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UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 



sf ESSAYS 



ON 



LAY REPRESENTATION 



CHURCH GOVERNMENT, 



COLLECTED FROM 



THE WESLEYAN REPOSITORY, THE MUTUAL RIGHTS, AND THE 

MUTUAL RIGHTS & CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER, 

FROM 1820 TO 1829 INCLUSIVE. 



NOW REPUBLISHED IN A CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, 



REV. NICHOLAS SNETHEN. 



BALTIMORE: 

JOHN J. HARROD. 

1835. 






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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by Nicholas Snethen, in 
the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maryland. 



-2 f-Js: 



LUCAS AND DEAVER, PRINTERS, 



INTRODUCTION. 



Mr. William S. Stockton issued the first number of his half 
monthly periodical, called The Wesleyan Repositort , and 
Religious Intelligencer, in Trenton, New Jersey, April 
12th, 1821. He invited me to become a contributor. In No. viii. 
July 19th, 1821, two essays on church government appeared, signed 
A Methodist. This was the first intimation I had of his inten- 
tion to admit of discussions on that subject, in his paper. In No. 
x. August 16th, 1821, he published my " Animadversions" on those 
two essays. In a third number, in No. xi. August 30th, 1821, he 
begins, by saying, "To the Animadversions, published in No. x. 
of this paper, I have no objections. Between the author and my- 
self there is not a shadow of difference, others have misunderstood 
me. It is said, my essays lead to seism; I deprecate seism." In 
No. xxiii., February 14th, 1822, an essay was published ff on 
Lay Delegation," signed A Methodist. It contains a plan, as 
follows, "Let the Annual Conferences choose from their own or- 
der, man for man. Apportion the delegates among the districts, 
according to our population in each, &c." The nature and relation 
of constituents and delegates, are fairly stated. It is an able essay. 
Mr. Stockton himself wished; and as he said, others also, that I 
should continue to write on the subject of lay representation. A 
free and friendly correspondence had taken place between us, with- 
out any indications of reserve on his part. No strife ever existed 
between us who should be greatest. If it were consistent with my 
plan, which is not to interfere with any other writer, but leave all 
free to publish their own writings ; I would have inserted in this 
collection, those essays, which were published before my own. — 
The publication of those, broke silence, and to break silence, on the 
subject of church government, in those days, called for no common 
resolution. But the credit, not of a mere beginner, is due to Mr. 
Stockton ; his efforts in behalf of lay represention, were unweari- 
ed and knew no bounds short of necessity. 

In the General Conference of May, 1820, the presiding elder 
question, which had been agitated for twenty years, was settled in 



iv INTRODUCTION. 

favor of the nomination being in the bishops, and the election in the 
the annual conferences ; — reconsidered ; — and suspended for four 
years. I had been known, as being among the earliest advocates 
for their election ; and also as the mover (1812) of the amendment 
to leave the nomination with the bishops. In this same General 
Conference, the local preachers' conference was authorised. My 
advice was asked. It was, that, whatever the General Conference 
might do in regard to the local preachers, ought to be real, not no- 
minal ; that their expectations ought not to be raised, with the 
promise of substances, to be disappointed with shadows. I had 
been an advocate for the local preachers for twelve years, that is, 
until their ordination to elder's orders was sanctioned by the Gen- 
eral Conference ; but the fate of their conference disclosed facts 
enough to convince me, that as a body, they would not be apt to 
profit by any thing which might be gained for them. As I had 
become local, I ceased to have any immediate personal interest in 
the election of presiding elders, by the members of the annual con- 
ferences. But to preserve consistency, I gave the cause all the 
continued support in my power; and wrote the first essay in this 
collection, which was printed in the December following the Gen- 
eral Conference, (1820) and circulated by mail confidentially 
among travelling preachers only. From similar considerations, I 
wrote the essays on church property. The placing of those essays 
among the charges and specifications against the editorial com- 
mittee, with my own proper name as their author ; and the sitting 
of certain judges, in the courts of appeal, upon them, is perhaps 
without a parallel in the history of prosecutions against the press. 
If I could have appeared as evidence, the blood of certain reverend 
judges must have been in a most uncommon degree under the con- 
trol of volition, or some portion of it would have mounted to the 
face. 

It was very evident to my mind that it would be difficult, if not 
impossible to disentangle the relative bearings and interests of pre- 
siding elder matters, so as to present the abstract questions of right 
fully and directly before the public mind. Opinions were far from 
being unanimous, whether the order ought to exist at all ; and no 
less diversity of opinion existed respecting its prerogatives, and pri- 
vileges. Arguments in favor of the rights of a body or order of 
men, whose very lawfulness, as well as expediency was doubtful, 
would not be likely to remove those doubts, or to conciliate con- 
flicting opinions. But lay representation was resolvable into an ab- 
stract question of right. The principle of right must be conceded 



INTRODUCTION. V 

to argue its inexpediency. The manner, however, in which the 
presiding elder question had been treated, in the General Confer- 
ence, called upon every friend of the principle of lay representa- 
tion to avail himself of the first opportunity to come forth in its 
behalf. About thirteen months after the adjournment of that bo- 
dy, which had made itself so conspicuous by its movements and 
counter-movements, on a question deeply involving the suffrage of 
its members, this interesting subject, as has been shewn, was 
broached in the Repository. 

For many years my mind had been quieted, as it regarded any 
immediate danger the principle of lay delegation might be exposed 
to, by taking it for granted, lhat should a crisis arrive, a majority 
of travelling preachers, as American citizens, could not be found 
publicly and officially to declare, that the laity have no right di- 
rectly to participate in church legislation. Transpiring events, 
however, continued to excite suspicion, that I might have been too 
sanguine; and the suspended resolutions converted suspicion into 
certainty. If liberal principles had prevailed, the evidences of 
their decline were irresistible. Can men who will yield their own 
rights, in a struggle with prerogative, be trusted with the rights 
of others ? 

A crisis had arrived. I did not seek it ; did not provoke it ; but 
had made my communication to the travelling preachers, on the 
pending controversy confidential and anoymous. For more than 
twenty years, I had been a diligent enquirer after information and 
evidence respecting the right of lay representation ; a closet en- 
quirer; an untiring reader of every work I could procure on the 
subject. The first book of discipline that was put into my hands, 
had taught me to regard the discipline itself as the result of obser- 
vation and experiment, and as still open to improvement. If its 
compilers or authors meant to teach me its divine rights, and con- 
sequently its immutable nature ; I was either a dull or disingen- 
uous scholar, or their method of instruction must have been un- 
happily chosen. Being older than the church, and the discipline, I 
had witnessed all its modifications ; and having sought to know 
what the discipline was in principle ; and what it might become in 
practice, without finding the principle of lay representation in it ; 
in endeavoring to find some clue to its practical consequences, my 
mind slid into the usual train of thought common to all around me. 
The discipline must depend upon the preachers. Will they al- 
ways do right ? Hope so. They are good men ; trust they will 
continue so. What if they do wrong, and will not reform ? Will 
1* 



vi INTRODUCTION. 

join with Mr. Wesley in praying that their name may be blotted 
out. This was taking men and measures for granted, was taking 
presumptions, for proofs ; but it was the habitual manner of my 
betters ; the ministerial fashion of the day ; — matters of opinion 
became fashionable. But on one point my memory seems trust- 
worthy. I do not remember ever to have heard, or read, in the 
conversations or writings of any of the preachers, that if the go- 
vernment should go incorrigibly and incurably wrong, there is 
not, and could not be any rightful remedy in the laity. Bishops, and 
others, when ministerial errors and corruptions have been antici- 
pated or admitted, have shewn no want of zeal and declamation 
against them. Against anticipated, as well as past wickedness, 
they prayed and denounced anathemas. Why then this death like 
silence of the statute book, and this opposition of living legislators 
against the rights of those who may suffer the wrongs, to remedy 
them ? 

Power combined with interest and inclination cannot be control- 
ed by logic. But even power shrinks from the test of logic. 
Let the rights of the laity to take the remedy of their wrongs 
into their own hands, be conceded, and the right to intro- 
duce lay representation into the legislative department of the go- 
vernment is settled forever. This lay representation has been found 
to be an excellent preventive, and has wrought some great cures. 
With the history of its curative, and corrective virtues before us, 
no doubt can remain, save upon the principle of right. Is it then 
right to prevent the abuse of ministerial power by this means ? I 
was fully persuaded in my own mind, that it was right. 

The history of church government may be regarded as a record 
of accidents, but as such, it merely informs without instructing. 
To know that events have happened, which under the operation of 
the same causes may never happen again, except by chance, adds 
nothing to the stock of human wisdom. I had ceased to read his- 
tory in order to furnish matter for amusement or wonder. Its chap- 
ters on human society were studied as examples of those social 
laws of causes and effects, which have all the uniformity and cer- 
tainty consistent with human volition. In the anticipated, or pro- 
phetic account of the great apostacy, or falling away, in Thessalo- 
nians ; can any reader help perceiving clerical and not laical ambi- 
tion. There were aspirations for power before power did develope 
itself, and the reason why it did not develope itself sooner, was the 
foreign or adventitious restraints upon ambition. "For the mys- 
tery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth (hin- 



INTRODUCTION. vii 

dereth) will let (hinder) until he be taken out of the way, and then 
shall that wicked one, (wickedness) be revealed. Office holders are 
ambitious of unlimited power ; the ambition of others, is first to 
get into office ; power without office must prove but an abortion. 
History abounds with examples and illustrations of this order and 
progress of social power. Prophecy is only history anticipated ; 
otherwise there could be no truth in it. When did history ever re- 
cord as fact, that the representatives of the laity, chosen by their 
free suffrage, exalted themselves above all that is called God, or is 
worshipped, and sit in the temple as God, that is, become absolute 
rulers in principle and practice ? The truth is, that all history 
falsifies such a construction. Prophecies of social and moral re- 
sults must be true, not only in the extreme case, but in the analo- 
gy and the details. The nature and tendency of things must be 
like the good or bad things finally to come to pass. Thus in re- 
gard to the milenium, so called; all great states of religious pros- 
perity, in the church approach to it. A great apostacy includes 
the lesser ones. The rule holds true by analogy. It is the same 
spirit, differing only in degree. 

When, it seemed to me, that the time had come to write in fa- 
vor of lay representation, I had little or no new theory to learn, I 
was in advance of fifty years of age ; had the name of being an 
indefatigable reader; of possessing a mind given to theory. — 
Whether I had thought well or ill upon the subject, I had thought 
much upon it; and thought alone. My editor had, as it were, 
given me a charte blanche. My matter and manner were all in 
my own choice. But was I not ambitious ? If to choose an end,, 
to choose an opportunity and to choose a plan and means to accom- 
plish that end, be necessarily, ambition, I was not innocent of it. 
The end to be accomplished, what was it? A thousand tongues and 
a thousand pens have repeated, — to revolutionize, or to corrupt the 
government of the Methodist Episcopal Church. And do those, 
who echo these reports, consider how the means I made choice of, 
were suited to that end ? or do they overlook this important data 
altogether? The means to revolutionize a government must be 
force : — the means to corrupt it must be fraud. .Did my means an- 
swer to either of these ? They are now of age to answer for 
themselves. Mr. Compton's correspondence with Mr. Ivy 
Harris, repeats the charge, "revolutionize." Now all the charges 
contemplated by the petitioners, or asked for, were to be made by 
the General Conference itself, not by the lay delegates ; but by the 
representatives of the travelling preachers alone. Was ever such 



Viii INTRODUCTION. 

an attempt made to revolutionize, before, or since ? Union societies 
were gotten up expressly to unite the matter and manner of the 
petitioners in one common request for lay representation ; in con- 
sequence of a complaint in the former General Conference of a 
want of unity among the numerous petitions which came flying 
to it, like doves to their windows. 

I could not by any analysis come to any other conclusion, than 
that the government belonged to the genus hierarchy ; but it was 
a goverment (de facto) in fact, and as such would contend for its 
own existence ; the question, as I supposed, being settled by com- 
mon consent, that there is a social and political law, or right of self 
preservation. It would follow, that whoever attempts to revolu- 
tionize a goverment (de facto) must calculate upon resistance, and 
its possible or probable consequences, defeat. As a member of a 
church, I could have no right to revolutionize or corrupt its go- 
government, which it had not a right to resist. Even the reform- 
ers did not set out with an assumption of right to revolutionize the 
church of Rome. Lay representation may certainly be introduced 
into the legislative department of a church, by and with the con- 
sent of its governing authorities, without revolutionizing or cor- 
rupting it; without destroying its identity or its action. In proof 
of this, the Protestant Episcopal Church, with all its pertinacity in 
favor of divine right and succession, admits of lay representation, 
without any idea of revolution or corruption; and Mr. Wesley's 
church, the church of England, accords the principle and the prac- 
tice, as consistent with episcopacy, and episcopal government. No 
attempt was made to use either force or fraud with the General 
Conference. They were peacefully petitioned to do the thing in 
their own way, even after the work of expulsion had been begun. 
While the principle was claimed as a right, the thing was asked 
for as a favor. 

To check, or to curb unlimited power of action does not necessa- 
rily destoy it, in name or in fact. In England, after the common- 
wealth was destroyed, and the king, (Charles II.) was restored to 
the throne, the power of the crown was limited, without restoring 
the commonwealth. A similar event happened in France. It is 
true, that both these cases are called revolutions in consequence of 
the forcible displacement of reigning dynasties; but still the king- 
ly form and name of the governments were preserved. No peti- 
tion was sent to the General Conference by the friends of lay rep- 
resentation to dispense with or destroy any part or member of the 
government. A new check given principle was to be incorporated 



INTRODUCTION. ix 

with it, that was all. The lay delegates were not to be vested with 
any of the existing powers of office. Their commission was to 
cease with the adjournment of the body. Now the same thing 
may happen in an inverse order in a democracy ; for though its 
powers cannot be checked, as those of a monarchy may ; the prin- 
ciples may be expanded, and undergo a variety of modifications to 
that end, while it undergoes no change destructive of its identity. 
As for example ; a municipality, being the most simple or ele- 
mentary of its forms, it cannot be reduced lower; but in this form, 
it could not be reduced to practice, in a county, or state, or a union 
of states ; for either of these purposes the principle must be ex- 
panded, not limited. If indeed, as may be inferred from the argu- 
ment of certain persons, they suppose, that every change in the 
extreme forms of monarchy or democracy, is revolution ; then I 
was a revolutionist. But I did not so regard the case then, nor do 
I now. The line of transition between the two forms of govern- 
ment was not approached. I had settled the belief in my own mind 
by what I conceived to be good authority and sound logic; that lay 
representation was not revolution, nor corruption, but an improve- 
ment. And to show the General Conference, the integrity of pro- 
fessions, the whole of the change was submitted to themselves. 
Thus in addition to all my previous inquires, I had more than 
twelve months, as a writer, with the sole control of myself and the 
subject, to settle upon principle. Whenever I shall be convinced 
that a hierarchy cannot be checked by lay representation without 
revolution, in the common meaning of the term, I shall be free to 
acknowledge, that I was mistaken in the meaning of words. 

It is important that it should be fully understood, that I choose 
my end, and my means to accomplish it. The end was to check 
the power of the hierarchy, the means was lay representation. 
Any number of persons might have agreed, and united, or began 
to write simultaneously upon this end and means, or any modifica- 
tion of them. But the fact in this instance, was not so. One edi- 
tor sustained the press, and one correspondent labored to shape the 
subject, without a confidential counsellor. Circumstances did not 
then admit of counsel. May I not say, that I wrote what I wrote, 
and had my own reasons for it. I had ceased to be a believer in 
the popular opinion of political "luck and chance," and had be- 
come a convert to the doctrine, that the effects of social governing 
causes are uniform. The common opinion was, the plan works 
well enough now, and it will be time enough to correct the evils 
when they do happen, if they ever do. 



X INTRODUCTION. 

No fears were entertained of consequences. Now I too, was (as 
they said) for letting well enough alone, wanting no remedy for 
well enough, but to provide one for bad enough ; because none had 
been provided, and when it should come, the remedy would be too 
late. The notion, as I conceived, that a government so constructed 
might be reformed, has no foundation in science. A carriage, 
which has no break upon its wheels, when descending a hill can- 
not be stopped to provide one ; but its motion must grow more ra- 
pid as it runs. My editor had a scanty subscription, and I was 
alone. This state of things could not last, and if it could, would 
be of no use. The end to be gained implied numbers, and these 
were to be found. Never was the question how ? calculated to ex- 
cite more solicitude. Who could solve it? Half month, after half 
month, were passing away, without proselytes. Other questions 
also, no less important, demanded the highest consideration. If 
you make converts by your writings, what relations will exist be- 
tween them and you? Will they be your inferiors, equals or supe- 
riors? Lay representation might be discussed under either of these 
conditions. A choice was to be made of one among them. My 
choice was in favor of equals ; — not only liberty, but equality. 
How shall it be gained ? Not merely by willing it ; not by acci- 
dent. As an eifect, it must have its own cause. The causes which 
may produce inferiority, or superiority, will not produce equality, 
or vise versa. To say to persons individually or collectively, unite 
with me as equals, to gain lay representation, would be of little 
avail. Liberty and equality are not gained in this way. Great 
anxiety to make converts often defeats itself, and never more fre- 
quently, than when conditions are cheapened to familiarity. I had as 
stated, ample leisure to study those problems ; and an ample num- 
ber of historical precedents. Human intentions and volitions, how- 
ever pure and strong, cannot materially influence the operation of 
means. It is in vain, in mechanics, or in nature, to intend, or re- 
solve, that lighter bodies shall predominate over heavier ones. I 
intended and resolved to be an equal. Of this I was conscious ; 
but this intention and resolution could only influence myself. Lu- 
ther, it is said, expressed his regret, that those who embraced his 
opinions, were called by his name. And Wesley, it seems, signi- 
fied no intention, that Methodists should be called after his name. 
There must have been some inherent cause, operating independent- 
ly of the purposes of these men, to have perpetuated their names 
as leaders. 

The opinion is expressed in the essays (it was my opinion then) 
that the government had not departed from its own original, that 



INTRODUCTION. xi 

nothing could be gained for lay representation by contending for its 
primitive model ; or if at any time, there should be a departure 
from it, by attempting to bring it back again, and therefore we 
were not in the usual meaning of the term, reformers. Lay repre- 
sentation, was not intended to reform, any more than to revolution- 
ize, or to corrupt the government ; but to check the tendency of 
power to excess. But the idea could not be proposed in, or out of 
the General Conference, by a travelling or a local preacher, or by 
a layman, and maintained against opposition, without generating a 
party. This was an element to be taken into calculation. Now, 
all parties, to exist and to act, must take on some definite mode 
of existence. But the principles or outlines of party forms, may 
be resolved into two, viz. Equality and inequality, that is, those 
who have a leader, and those who have none. Now as had been 
said, I intended and determined, that if a party should ever be 
raised up in favor of lay representation, that it should have no lead- 
er or head. I resolved not to be a superior, and that no one else 
should ; resolved not only to repress ambition in my own breast, 
but in the breasts of all those who should unite with the party ; 
still it was foreseen, that all this would avail nothing, unless the 
means should prove adequate to the end. History was then to be 
consulted. Were all its reports uniform and trustworthy ? Have 
all who have become heads or leaders of parties, so as to destroy 
the common equality between them, and the rest of the party, ef- 
fected it by the same means ? And should I employ the same means, 
will the effect be the same, although I may intend, and resolve to 
the contrary ? Truly. It will, it must be so. What then are 
those means of master making, and master preserving? Are they 
not all to be resolved into some modification of teaching ? Did 
not Luther, and Calvin, and Wesley, teach as primary and mas- 
ter teachers ? To go to the great fountain head of example, as well 
as precept. The great master himself, is the great Didasculus i 
teacher ; all others are disciples. Now although the blessed Jesus 
was master by right, or inherent authority and divine appointment, 
could he have maintained his authority, without teaching? "This 
is my well beloved son, hear him ! said the voice, that came from 
excellent glory ;— hear him teach ; — Take my yoke upon you, he 
says, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls. Whosoever is not converted, and 
becomes as a little child, and does not receive the kingdom of hea- 
ven as a little child, cannot enter into it. Jesus taught all his dis- 
ciples, and taught them every thing; for they all, had every thing 



sii INTRODUCTION-. 

to learn; being all equally ignorant. Was it not verv plain, that 
if I began to write on lay representation as a teacher. I should 
write in vain, without learners • and that before any one could learn 
of me. he must take my yoke upon him ! I must lead, and he must 
follow. I must be superior, and he inferior. But did I not be^in 
to write as a teacher, and continue to write so? I may not be per- 
mitted to bear witness of myself The writings themselves are 
here, their testimony is true. 

This is a subject of great abstract, as well as relative import- 
ance. Our blessed Saviour taught or inspired every thin g | ertain- 
ing to his religion, for be a] me understood the whole plan. 

There were no ideas in the minds of the disciples fco be called 
forth. The learners were all like little children in ignorance, and 
of course the ideas, the very elements of knowledge, as in thr 
of little children, had to be furnished before they could begin to 
learn. It was not so with us, in reg-ard to the subject of lay repre- 
sentation. The elements c: 'the su::;ect were well understood. All 
that wis require '.. was t: excite ;::ention to the principle, and to 
point out its application to our church membership'. If w 3 n : n 
much, primary instruct] thai Tras needed, <±> excitement of bbk- 
istincj- ideas, and impulse to action. To produce ideas, where there 
are none; and bo excite existing ideas into action, require different 
processes. Infidel writers ire apt to confound these two cases.— 
Hence, in opposition to all analogy of the laws of the human mind, 
they labor to prove the impossibility of inspiration. But does not 
instruction pertain to the class or genus :: inspiration; and not 
to the genua excitement: Is not the producing of ideas, where 
they are not, a sj e pies ::" creation; quite different from the calling 
forth ideas, or waking them from their dormant state? Persons, 
who have been religiously instructed, and are irreligious, are 
awakened, or have their religious ideas excited, without much, if 
any additional instruction. Hence the frequent so I orely 

zealous preaching, and the peculiar manner of certain preachers. 
Parents, who have been religiously educated, ... .. :;edby 

a manner of preaching; and the same manner of preaching ... 
prove entirely unavailing to those oi ' i.ose educa- 

tion have been neglected; tut if, by extraordinary excitement, 
thev are converted, a course of instruction must be gone over to 
redeem their minds from ignorance, The number and frequency 
of these cases, prove that the diner-.. een teaching rod ex- 

citement is real. Many of the cases of those who are called gos- 
pel hardened sinners, may be in whole, or in part accounted for, 



INTRODUCTION. xiii 

by referring to this distinction of the causes and effects of instruc- 
tion and excitement. Religious light and knowledge do not increase 
in proportion to the amount of the exciting matter and manner of 
preaching; the sinner may hear and so it may happen, that instead 
of his sinning against light and knowledge, as it supposed, he may 
be rather sinning for the want of them, or in ignorance. Is not the 
difference between producing ideas in the mind by instruction ; 
and calling or quickening them into action, indicated, in the me- 
morable saying of our Saviour; "When the comforter is come, he 
will bring all things to your remembrance, which I have spoken 
unto you ? 

It was by this mode of reasoning, that before I put pen to paper, 
I came to the conclusion, that the nature of the case did not require 
grave didactic essays, to teach or instruct the members of the church 
the elements of government; and also to the inference, that success 
in this mode of writing, must involve discipleship. And during 
all the years, which at longer or shorter intervals, I continued to 
write, equality, and not discipleship, was never wholly lost sight of, 
if it may have occasionally escaped my attention; the essays, I trust, 
will shew casualty, and not design. 

My first concern was, if public attention enough could beexcited, 
to unite a sufficient number in favor of lay representation, to cause 
jealousy or alarm ; that they should not deserve to be expelled. 
The second, if they should be expelled, what they should do. Will 
they unite and embody themselves? How will they unite? As 
equals, or as unequals? If as the former, the elements of equality 
must exist, and have begun to operate, as far as circumstances may 
admit, before the crisis, for no new creation can then take place. I 
labored under a full conviction, that the only rational hope of suc- 
cess, for the party, in case of expulsion, would be in rallying, as a 
purely equal, or democratical, or congregational association ; or in 
acknowledging some one, as a didasculus, or original teacher, w hose 
yoke disciples might take upon them, in order to learn of him. Let 
it be supposed, that as new writers appeared from time to time, in 
our periodicals, I had contended for preeminence, in the manner of 
those, who have preeminence, in the order of time, usually do con- 
tend for it, would not one of two cases have happened ? Would there 
not have been a strife, who should be greatest? Or would not cer- 
tain persons have taken on the characters of followers to some lea- 
der? How could I have monopolized the pages of our periodicals; 
or have contended against those, who did write, without maintaining 
a claim to the mastery ? And how could I claim the mastery, with- 
2 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

out claiming the right? What right could I claim, but that of pri- 
ority in the order of time ? But if such a claim would not be ad- 
mitted as valid, what valid claim could those set up, who came 
forward to labor in the cause at a much later period? 

Behold, the fact ! Of all the advocates for lay representation 
among Methodists, those who formed the nuclues of the Methodist 
Protestant Church were the most equal. How did they become so ? 
Did any one person contribute to make them so? Or was this equal- 
ity the result of simultaneous determination ? Or was it an acci- 
dent? Where my essays remain unknown, or my intention in wri- 
ting them is unknown, must not some of the data of a correct an- 
swer to these questions be wanting ? The primary cause of this 
equality, was in the nature and form of the excitement, which 
roused the attention of these persons to the subject; an excitement 
as has been shown productive not of new ideas, and of course requi- 
ring no discipleship to make it act. The consequence, therefore, of 
its first impression, or impulse, was a consciousness of equality, as 
well as of freedom, to those who felt it. I choose the excitement, 
and the manner of its application, from among many others, and in 
preference to teaching, in the full confidence, that those who yielded 
to it, would feel not a whit behind myself; feel under no obligation 
to obey me, nor indeed, any fear of withstanding me to my face, in 
case of any difference of opinion between us. When men are thus 
brought to speak out, and to act out, what they before knew, feel- 
ings of subordination are never generated. No action of the mind 
seems to them more voluntary or independent. Their feelings are 
apt to run away with the prompting cause, and become insensible 
to it- Had these essays been published in Rome or Constantinople, 
they would have remained a mere dead letter; they were as much 
so to those Methodists, who thought nothing, and were determined 
to think nothing about the rights of laymen. Voluntary inatten- 
tion and prejudice, like ignorance, are unexcitable. But it is in 
the nature of all social excitement, as it is of all other kinds of ex- 
citement, to give, in a greater or less degree, its own characteristic 
impression to its effects or products. The consequences will follow 
in fact, independently on volition, or intention, or foresight. If 
one, under the influence of prejudice or passion, strongly excites 
another, a corresponding emotion or feeling will be excited, although 
the contrary may be intended ; thus shewing how the law of cause 
and effect furnishes data by which human forethought may be di- 
rected. Let it be supposed, that in writing one of my early essays 
on lay representation, I had carelessly, or ignorantly, or intention- 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

ally used a word, or phrase, calculated to convey the idea that I 
was aspiring to the mastership of the party, can it be supposed, 
that in the then excited state of the public mind, the effect would 
not have answered to the meaning of the word or phrase, but to 
the intention of the writer? The history of parties does not, per- 
haps, exhibit an example of greater equality than reigned among 
us. It became a first principle ; a germ of existence which assimi- 
lated all who united with it. Could we have gotten our necks from 
under a hierarchical yoke by any other means ? 

From the number of cases of Maniteism, it should seem that 
the tendency among religious parties, is strongly towards it. In 
some cases, where it has not obtained, it appears to have been 
prevented for a time by adventitious causes, as in the name Me- 
thodist, instead of Wesleyan. Among our contemporaries who 
have taken on the name of ites and ans, we have been regard- 
ed as not democratical enough. But does not a predilection for 
names, evince more of a morbid state of social feeling than of a 
genuine and healthy action of the spirit of equality ? To make 
followers out of those who are followers of other leaders, it is 
not enough to win their affections, their affections must be detached 
from those to whom they had been previously engaged also. But 
this can seldom be done, without the aid of prejudice and passion. 
A remarkable instance of this strong personal feeling for and 
against old and new leaders, was familiar to all, and to none more 
intimately known, than to myself. I could not, ignorantly, have 
followed the example. And surely, the success of it was no high 
recommendation of it. This want of success, in previous attempts, 
to bring lay representation into practice among Methodist people, 
could not have been overlooked or disregarded by one who had the 
choice of his own means and time, without a criminal inattention 
or presumption. The first point of enquiry among the wherefores, 
were the possibles and impossibles. Is the thing impossible? or 
have the plans pursued, been wrong? or can any plan be pursued 
with promise of success ? It did seem to me, that all personal in- 
terests and feelings, as first prompters, were almost as ominous as 
stumbling upon the threshold. Causes which have failed, cannot be 
repeated with hopes of success. And if other causes in combina- 
tion with them may, it is fair to presume that they may succeed 
better without them than with them. Certainty, indeed, belongs 
not to any mortal anticipations ; for, however correctly the causes 
or means in our power may be appreciated, no human foresight can 
look forward to all the causes which may oppose us, and counter- 



xvi INTRODUCTION. 

vail our plans. The great, the all-absorbing point of attention, 
was expulsion. The equality of feeling, in all the friends of the 
principle, being anticipated as secured, and each individual, of 
course, feeling independent and responsible, separation was thus 
guarded against. If not ejected for representation's sake, the mem- 
bers of the party must remain in the church, whatever may be the 
fate of the party question. But will the powers that be, expel us ? 
They may do it; the various means by which they can do it, are in 
their own choice; and in case of their failure, they may do it by wil- 
ling it. The possibility of the event was fairly admissible. No 
calculation could be made without it. But as a dutiful son of the 
church, ought not the admission of a possibility of expulsion, to have 
deterred one from stirring the subject, or led me to let it alone, be- 
fore it was meddled with ? So I judged not. There was a day, 
when, after years of diligent and anxious enquiry into causes, and 
forethought of consequences, in the solitude of retirement, in the 
calmness of reason, and with no other conscious emotions than those 
which seemed to me to emanate from good will to all who were, or 
might be concerned, my purpose became fixed, and has been steadily 
pursued from that day to this. It may be wrong. I felt the possi- 
bility, that it might. I- feel so now. But the evidences that it was 
right, multiply upon me. If it be possible for the men who wield 
the government of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to expel the 
petitioners, for lay representation, from her bosom, I will, in anti- 
cipation, furnish the lever, and fix its fulcrum, so as to compel them 
to use it, with one effect to themselves. If they have recourse to 
the machinery of power, it shall operate a greater effect upon the 
hierarchy, than upon the principle we petition for. From the day 
they expel the friends of lay representation, they shall give a di- 
rection and impulse to their own movements, that shall put in re- 
quisition all their ingenuity and effort to prevent an internal revo- 
lution ; but great and important changes in the practical operations 
of their discipline, must be inevitable. No calculations from the 
past to the future can be made with a higher degree of probability, 
than those, which respect the consequences of expelling the members 
of a church for the sake of opinions involving rights and liberties. 
Changes in views and feelings must then begin which shall render 
the continued and consistent spirit and practice of discipline im- 
possible — whatever may happen to the expelled, should they be ut- 
terly exterminated, still changes must go on in the disciplinary de- 
partments of the expellers. 
Having then felt a full persuasion, that the church ought to have 



INTRODUCTION. xvii 

lay representation, that it was her right to have it ; and having 
conceived, that the only rational means to prevent the effects of 
the petitions should they not be granted, would be the letting of 
the petitioners alone, by the church authorities ; the principle of 
the movement, which might impel them to act against the peti- 
tioners, was settled also in my mind. If the discipline were capa- 
ble of such a mode of operation; and if the absolute admin- 
istrators of it were capable of forming a voluntary determina- 
tion to make it operate by such a mode to the very overt act of 
excommunication; no change, which might directly or indirect- 
ly follow, as it regarded the discipline, could be for the worse; 
therefore the principle of my first movement might be benevolent. 
No mode of discipline can be worse than that which excommuni- 
cates members who petition ministers to grant them rights and 
liberties. Changes, almost radical, have taken place among the 
expellers ; they are still going on ; and they will go on ; but never 
go back. The old spirit and practice of the discipline can never 
be regained. Names and forms may be retained ; and be more 
extolled than ever; and when all comes to all, and the change can- 
not be denied ; the old cover all, and cure all, may be resorted to, 
viz: Methodism is a child of providence; providence points to 
changes, and like a dutiful child she follows. But the men who 
have been loudest in the cry against the evils and mischiefs of the 
representationists will never admit, that they could ever have con- 
ceived a good intention, or felt an emotion of good will. In their ea- 
gerness to fix bad motives upon opponents they overlook the con- 
sequences of their own acts. An event like this moral martyrdom 
of so many ministers and members of a church for principles, and 
for truth's sake could not have happened in any country not wholly 
enslaved, much less" in America, without important results to hu- 
manity. I have believed, and therefore have not made haste. The 
changes which began to take place in the discipline of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, when of its own free will, as its own act and 
deed, without a shadow of necessity, it expelled as honest men from 
its bosom as ever lived in it, cannot well progress faster, while the 
Methodist Protestant Church exists. If this church comes to no- 
thing, they will be accelerated. The impulse to the feeling of 
equality, which has proceeded from the mode, which I made choice of 
in the secrecy of the closet, has been felt in the old church, and is 
now indirectly operating. The difference in the direct and indi- 
rect mode of operation, implies no change in the principle. The 
first result will be a feeling of independence. The converts to lay 
2* 



xviii INTRODUCTION. 

representation should know these closet exercises of my mind and 
heart ; and the historian should be informed of them from my own 
pen. Not but that they all might have existed in the minds and 
hearts of other men, if I had never lived, or never had a pen. But 
I intended, I resolved, years before, that if the prerogative men ex- 
pel representationists, the principle in the discipline, they shall use 
as the instrument shall be neutralized in their own hands ; and by 
their own hands ; because it will deserve to be neutralized. Now, 
whether these intentions and resolutions, are ever realized in fact 
or not ; whether they are good or bad ; right or wrong ; they ex- 
isted, and the moral character of the mind and heart that conceived 
and cherished them, is by the disclosure of the secret, submitted 
to impartial posterity. The seeming attempts at concealment ; the 
fictitious signature; the indirect methods of writing; the writing 
about one kind of persons or things and meaning others ; the half 
serious and half jocose manner; and the real earnestness and seve- 
rity of tropes, or figures of rhetoric were not chance work, or the 
matter of necessity. All my first interests, and all my personal 
interests were deeply involved in non-expulsion. I could foresee 
no gain from it ; but harm and loss to myself, and those who were 
dearer to me than myself. The most keen sighted antagonist can 
perceive no motive for my ambition, and therefore, when he ac- 
cuses me of it, he is forced to assume, that it has bewildered and 
betrayed me. But I rest quite easy, in the confidence, that when 
the time comes (and that it surely will come) to give these essays 
an impartial reading, that the impartial reader will see, that all the 
ambition I could have was first, to aid and assist the travelling 
preachers, to admit by a direct and immediate process of their own 
legislation, the check giving principle of lay representation ; and 
the second, if they not only refused; but returned evil for good; 
and drove us from the church ; they should be compelled to make 
retribution to offended liberty and equality with their own hands. 
My ambition is gratified, by sitting still and looking on, and mark- 
ing with a patient and steady eye, the unerring, though to them un- 
intentional movements to the final issue. 

The defence, and the evidence of the defence of the expelling 
powers, cannot be materially varied. Any discovery they may 
make, cannot be made an argument in favor of what they did for other 
reasons. In the eye of history, we can have no advantage of each 
other, save what facts and evidence may give. In this respect I 
have been in danger, and our common cause has been in danger. 
Our friends have been careless, if not well nigh insensible of the 



INTRODUCTION. xix 

importance of historical documentary evidence. The three years, 
which preceded the formation of union societies, and while the nu- 
cleus of our party was secretly and almost silently forming, in 
another generation might have become like a region of conjecture; 
a kind of fabulous period, beyond the points of authentic history. 
Will they not now form a period for historical division. There 
were not more than from four to five hundred copies of the period- 
icals, in which my first essays were published, circulated. These 
volumes have now become scarce, even where they were circulated. 
It is doubtful whether by the time an impartial history can be writ- 
ten, a whole set can be found. Such, is the nature and connection 
of the whole subject, and so much depends upon the preconceiving 
mind, that a single mistake respecting motives and intentions, might 
involve great errors, as, indeed, has already happened. If the 
preachers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church should 
now be disposed to read my incipient essays, they could not obtain 
them. Even our young preachers, are left almost wholly in the 
dark, on those early circumstances, it much concerns them to un- 
derstand. See the condition, in which those who come after us must 
be left, without these original sources of information. Comments 
and controversies (we are not without able ones) not only leave 
their own impressions on the mind ; but the impression of antago- 
nist writers also. True history cannot be written without authen- 
ticated original documents. How indispensibie, then, with all its 
poverty, and imperfection, will this collection prove ; and how ne- 
cessary is it, that it should be made under the eye of the writer. 
In a few years, one event will have happened to the writer and the 
originals. All therefore, that was, and just as it was ; no more, no 
less ; no better, no worse ; the early, the first mode of excitement; 
the matter, and manner, in which, and by which, writers set the 
thoughts a working ; and not the sentences and parts of sentences, 
picked out, and distorted by opponents, must be studied, in order 
to come to the knowledge of the truth of this controversy. 

Let. it be kept in mind, that this is not an improved edition of my 
essays, with additions or enlargements. It is a collection intended 
to answer the purposes of historical documents. To alter or sup- 
press any of the parts, or to add to them, would be to destroy their 
identity. And to have printed others with them, though of infi- 
nitely greater intrinsic worth, would add nothing to their charac- 
ter. They were written alone ; the production of one mind. They 
first appeared as strangers, without any recommendation, but the 
editor's passport. May they not now in some respects, answer to 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

the supposed offices of the Lares, or household Gods of the ancients j 
drive away the evil spirits of error and misrepresentation. The 
most valuable legacy parents can leave their children, as has been 
well said, is not their success alone, but a fair reputation. Those 
who have nobly contended for liberty, though not always successful, 
have always been the favorites of fame. 

The intention of the publication of this collection is, not only to 
enable the enquirer to know what I did write ; but what I did not 
write, and why I did not. It will be noticed, perhaps, how little is 
said in these essays about a government for lay representationists. 
When the expulsions took place, my relation became changed. In 
my first essays, I had no one to consult with. In the first move- 
ments of the expelled ; they did not feel the need of my counsel, 
and so did not ask it. I had thought much upon these matters ; but 
it was always for a state of things, which I hoped would never come 
to pass ; and if it should come to pass, might leave me out of the 
list ; or at most should I be included in it, leave me still as an equal. 
Each individual, had felt as an equal to me, and felt too, as though 
the plan that made him so was his own. Men generally feel so, 
when they hear others express their own thoughts, before they them- 
selves have expressed them. It was this equality that made heroes 
of all; and heroines of those women, who followed the martyrs of 
principle, through the evil report, they had to suffer. Movements 
of moral sublimity. 

Much has been said about conventional arguments, and compacts, 
real or implied. Before the formation of union societies, in strict- 
ness of speech, no relation existed among writers or petitioners, 
answering to them. But in regard to myself, there was a most 
solemn compact with my God (if it may be so called) to which my 
conscience was witness, that in lay representation matters I would 
be no man's superior. Such however was the relative condition of 
all, in point of fact, that there could be no constitution making ope- 
ration among us, which would not prove to be inequality making ; 
or the changing primitive and actual relations of equality, into 
artificial relations of inequality. All who had labored, or suffered, 
or had been expelled, for the sake of the common cause, were in 
fact volunteers; and it always seemed to me, that no new relation 
could in equity be imposed upon them in their life time, without 
their personal consent. In this respect, my views of social justice 
had long corresponded with those of the Friends. And besides, as 
has been shewn, I was religiously bound to make no artificial dis- 
tinctions among representationists. Others, it seems had no such 



INTRODUCTION. XXl 

views, or opinions ; they of course had no such scruples. With 
the arguments for or against principles, or facts, I have now no con- 
cern, as I write not as a historian, but to furnish historical evi- 
dence. History may decide against me. My draft of conven- 
tional articles, of 1828, is probably now lost. It can never again 
be of any use. The opinion of the majority of the convention was 
probably, expressed by one of the members, in the well known 
verses, on dislike. 

"The reason why I cannot tell; 
But I like you not, Doctor Fell." 

No man had acted with me, in these matters of conscience ; no 
one was under any obligations to me, as I had sought to bind no 
one to any conditions. In constitution and discipline concerns, I 
can have neither praise nor blame ; and it is no part of the business 
of this introduction to praise or blame them. 

I now address myself particularly to the descendants, and suc- 
cessors of those who were expelled, or suffered, or labored for the 
sake of lay representation : — My respected younger friends, it is to 
you, I confide this collection of my essays (as historical documents) 
for safe keeping. When I am gone the way of all flesh, your fa- 
thers who then survive, must soon follow. You will learn from 
these essays, how, I was first a forerunner, then an equal, and final- 
ly a follower of those, who made the good confession before many 
witnesses. A three fold relation of a very small number, if of any 
save Mr. Stockton and P. B. Hopper, Esq. The statements and 
evidences of an actual condition of equality, will be to you I trust, 
quite convincing ; and will be duly appreciated, as due to those 
local preachers who labored, if not more abundantly than others, 
did labor very diligently, and when called to make the choice, 
chose rather to suffer excommunication, than to betray the rights of 
the laity. The consequences of equality among those volunteers, 
in precluding the official relations of teachers and learners, as al- 
ready stated, I flatter myself, will also appear evident to you. But 
I now feel myself deeply concerned to state to you, that neither this 
equality, nor its consequences, can descend. Nature disowns the 
relation of equality between parents and children, and grace also. 
Law and gospel agree in requiring children to obey their parents. 
Is not this perpetual, and undeviating command, founded upon na- 
tural inequality? Parents in a social and religious state, have a 
social, and religious knowledge, which their children cannot inherit 
by birth right, and which they cannot acquire without precept, as 



xxii INTRODUCTION. 

well as example. Every parent is a natural teacher, and every 
child a natural learner. In reference to this view, I, at an early 
period, began my parent's chatechism, &c. When this subject is 
touched in these essays, the axioms, or maxims, in my mind and 
judgment, if not expressed, were, that all children are born in a 
state of social and religious ignorance or ignorant of the princi- 
ples of society and religion; — and that by a process of teaching and 
learning, they may be raised to a state of equality with their pa- 
rents in these kinds of knowledge. Or in other words, that chil- 
dren are born unequal to their parents in knowledge ; but may be 
raised to equality with them, by education. I hold the opinion re- 
ligiously, or conscientiously, that the right of children to the equal- 
ity consequent upon instruction, is a divine right; or, that it is ac- 
cording to the will of God, that children should be instructed in the 
principles of social and religious knowledge, to a degree which may 
enable them to become equal with their predecessors ; for otherwise 
society and religion, however high they might be raised, must de- 
generate. This divine right of children to learning, or instruction 
becomes divine authority, or command to the parents to teach them. 
The propositions may be announced thus : nature and time destroy 
social and religious equality in society ; artificial instruction, or 
education, restores them. The first operation must continue as 
long as the human race exist in a social and religious state ; and the 
latter ought to be commensurate with it. Teaching and learning 
always find a sufficient natural supply of incentive and excitement, 
in the mutual feelings and interests of parents and children, to per- 
petuate them. The first obligation to teach is upon the parents ; 
they must do it themselves, or procure, or patronize teachers to do 
it. 

Now among the yoke fellows, who labored in behalf of lay rep- 
resentation, there were no children, no learners, no probationers. 
The name of each petitioner ; the name of each of the expelled ; 
and the name of each adherent of the principle, was as a unit, none 
were cyphers. One man it is true, may reap what another man 
has sowed; but the laborers have not equal hopes and fears. The 
feelings of the seedsman and the reaper, cannot be confounded. 
History itself, would be of no use, if all children were born equal 
in knowledge to their parents. Children inherit no birth right 
knowledge from their parents. From the beginning of the world, 
the first or natural vouchers of children for the opinions and actions 
of their fathers, is, father told me so. The birth night is to be told 
so. The inequality of parents and children, in social and religious 



INTRODUCTION. xxiii 

knowledge is demonstrable; and it is equally demonstrable, that 
teaching- is the only means by which children can become equal in 
knowledge to their parents. As the first prompter, in the order of 
time, to equality ; as I have now lived to witness the time_, when 
the occasions which made it necessary are passing away, and the 
equals themselves are greatly diminished, and in a few years will 
no longer exist, — do I not owe it, as a duty to you, to caution you 
in a particular manner, in this very instance, against the dangerous 
consequences of supposing, that you have by right of succession, a 
participation in our equality ; or which is the same thing, an ex- 
emption from instruction. A proneness of this kind, is common, 
if not universal. It is the maxim of freemen "All men are born 
equal." And it is so convenient and taking, that it is seldom 
thought worth while to add, except in social and religious know- 
ledge. Scarcely had the prosecutions of representationists ceased, 
or "we had (so to speak) no more firing against us," than an alarm- 
ing spirit of indocility began to disclose itself; and as some thought 
insubordination and anarchy. The truth however was, there were 
no learners in our ranks, and attempts to teach must have become 
well nigh abortive. The re-action of the learner's mind did not 
exist. Habits had to be renewed. The transition as usual was 
painful, and the result doubtful. It remains for your surviving 
fathers and yourselves, to follow nature and time, in their perpetual 
operation of inequality making, and heartily pursue the course of 
teaching and learning, until the equilibrium is maintained. The 
deaths of the first successful laborers, in any great cause of piety, 
or patriotism, are apt to be regarded as calamities ; but experience 
proves, that being dead, they yet speak ; and that posterity thus 
learn more from them, than their contemporaries may have done. 
My hopes of our final success, have from the beginning been deriv- 
ed in part from the assumption, that necessity if not choice, would 
compel those who might come after us to read for information, and 
that thus the clue to teaching and learning would be again restored. 
The love of reading and the love of hearing, upon the same sub- 
jects, persons or theories, are not commonly separated. No one 
surely ever hated to hear of what he loved to read. In a very 
short time the contents of this little book will be classed among the 
works of past generations. As it is the first of the kind, which 
can appear among us, if it shall be read with favor, will it not con- 
tribute to form a new era in our church ? Every discovery the 
young mind makes by reading, not only increases its thirst for 



xxiv INTRODUCTION. 

knowledge ; but shows the natural inequality in knowledge, and 
the efficacy of this artificial means to restore the equality. 

As soon as might be, after the expulsion of the local preachers, 
in Baltimore, I sought an interview with them, to disclose to them 
my views respecting the natural, and the divinely authorised rela- 
tions of teachers and learners, and pointed out to them the divine 
right of children, in regular order and succession, by means of in- 
struction to become equal with parents in social and religious know- 
ledge. I took care to notice our equality among ourselves, and the 
consequent impossibility of changing our relation to each other ; 
but offered for consideration a plan by which the difficulty might be 
so far removed, as to admit of our making a beginning. These 
ideas did not take. Hopes of some favorable result from the ap- 
peals were not wholly extinguished ; nor were anticipations of ac- 
cessions from the old church quite given up. It did not seem to be 
fully appreciated, that the equality of all who should thus unite with 
us, would render them also unteachable. It is surprising how intel- 
ligent and reflecting men should overlook the necessary consequen- 
ces of equality and inequality. If I could have gained a superiority, 
and the General Conference had granted us lay representation in an- 
swer to our petition ; do you not perceive that it could have been of 
no use to me; and as things have happened, as a superior could I have 
gladly hailed the defeat of my friends ? On a moment's reflection, 
one or the other of these events must have been anticipated. Could 
either of them have furnished food for ambition ? But was not am- 
bition common to the party ? Let their faults be exposed and ana- 
lyzed, and will they not be found to be the faults of equality, 
(equality has its faults) rather than of ambition? Is not the ten- 
dency to anarchy so much complained of, a feeling of equality too 
strongly confirmed, to yield suddenly, if at all, to constitutional ine- 
quality ? Now, if as a secret mentor, I had any agency, if I foresaw 
what we might be called to suffer, how could I help forseeing that 
these sufferings could only be sustained by feelings of equality; and 
forseeing also, that by yielding in the trial, all would be lost ? As 
those who were called to the test triumphed. I indeed, was not 
permitted to go over Jordan with them, though not hindered, I 
trust, by any sin of mine. This great example, (no voluntary 
separation under the then existing circumstances could have pro- 
duced the same or equal effect,) while it failed to convert others to 
act from principle, was, and still is fruitful of consequences. It is 
indirectly working like leaven in the old lump. The spirit and 
practice which since prevail, are not those of primitive Ameri- 



INTRODUCTION. xxv 

can Methodism. The expelled have provoked the expellers to 
jealousy and to emulation. The laity are feeling an importance, 
which must be followed with feelings of independence. 

You will, then ask, whether I renounce all the equality usually 
associated with birth right ? Far from it. Here too, probably, in 
the estimation of my friends, I err on the side of equality. Lay 
representation was not purchased for you for a great sum; but 
without money or price. The fathers and mothers won it by their 
heroism, for them and their heirs forever. The title is a fee sim- 
ple. You are free born in the proper sense of the term. I have 
more than once intimated, as an opinion, that the laity in the old 
church are purchasing their freedom. Let it be admitted, that it 
may be so; and what will be the consequences to their children, or 
successors? Would they not inherit a lease, with a perpetual rent, 
rather than a deed ? Surely such a supposed case is not without 
precedent ; nor does it seem to have been without fear or antici- 
pation. The maxim once was ; and if not a golden one, it was re- 
garded as a true one, 'Let all our houses be built plain; otherwise 
rich men will become necessary to us, and then farewell to Me- 
thodist discipline.' Does it cost no more money to build and support 
colleges and schools, than to build plain houses ? And can all this 
money be obtained without rich men becoming necessary to us ? Can 
societies and funds, which require great sums annually, be perpetu- 
ated by the poor alone ? The money all comes of the laity, and will 
the poor never complain ? But what was that Methodist discipline, 
which the necessity for rich men might oblige travelling preachers 
to bid a farewell to ? If not the very one, was it not the very article 
in it, which is so utterly ignorant of such kind of laical rights as 
lay representation ? Now, if it ever comes to pass, that travelling 
preachers cannot do without the money of rich men, and rich men 
come to know that they cannot ; and the fears that the travelling 
preachers' exclusive disciplinary power might be lost, be realized, 
what will be the mode of operation ? Would there be nothing like 
bribes, or bartering; no tacit understanding, like, if you will not 
discipline me, I will pay ; if you do, I will not pay ? Who can help 
seeing the vast difference between birth right liberty, and liberty 
so purchased ? But that no propensity to regard liberty more like 
an article of merchandize, than as a principle to be won or secured 
by heroism, can under any circumstances be generated in the hu- 
man mind ; cannot be proved unless all history is falsified. 

When the rich of their abundance shall have cast their millions 
into the college treasury, can you believe, that the old scenes of 
3 



XX vi INTRODUCTION. 

expulsions can be acted over again, for the same causes and the 
same effects, in any of the colleges ; that learned gentlemen, and 
gentlemens' sons, will be expelled from these seminaries of learn- 
ing for speaking evil of travelling preachers, and all the wealthy 
contributors, say amen, to it? 

Your birth right privilege, is, to go back to first principles. 
Those who have liberty in opinion or thought, without a legitimate 
title, cannot do this ; they dare not draw the veil of mystery aside. 
The birth right of Americans, is not the battle fields of their fa- 
thers ; but the declaration of independence, and the treaties won 
on those battle fields, by which independence was secured. So my 
younger friends you have not a birth right of principles which is 
yet to be conquered ; but which is conquered for you ; your birth 
right is a school, in which you may learn all your fathers knew, 
and thus become equal with them. Your birth right is a divine 
right. Hear the oracle. 'Children obey your parents in the Lord, 
for this is right. Honor thy father, and thy mother, (which is 
the first commandment $Cr with promise,') that it may be well with 
thee, and thou may est live long on earth. 5 Behold the charter of 
social and religious liberty. Your fathers and your mothers are 
free, you are born to inherit their liberty, upon the condition of 
honoring them. Obeying their instructions in the Lord, is implied 
in this honor ; the gospel is the standard of their instructions ; their 
will is not absolute. It is socially well with the fathers and the 
mothers while they understand and maintain their social liberties ; 
but when the children become indocile, and ignorant, and refrac- 
tory, society runs into confusion and error, and must fall to pieces 
or be coerced by power. I have told you, that the divine right of 
children to be instructed to the point of equality with their parents, 
in the principles of society and religion, is a part of my religious 
belief. I oppose this belief to the religious belief of travelling 
preachers, that the divine right is in them. These are the points 
of opposition between them and me ; and these are the points of 
conversion between us. I go for no half measures, or expedients, 
or accommodations. They will have all or none, their determina- 
tion follows from their religious belief in their divine right to all. 
Who can meet them upon this ground with any belief, or right, 
short of religious and divine ? Claim your divine right children. 
Let no man take your crown of educated equality. Deem it no 
usurpation, or sacrilege, if the gospel of the grace of God, as the law 
of God did David, should make you wiser than even your teachers. 
The claims of the hierarchy, or the patriarchate gain one 
essential point, viz: the docility of all. "Whether they use, or 



INTRODUCTION. xxvii 

abuse, or neglect the principle, it is right, and good in itself, 
in the abstract. We have seen that the necessity of it is laid 
in nature and time, which will transmit no knowledge from 
one generation to another without instruction. The whole his- 
tory of the opposition to the exclusive claims of the patri- 
archate in all degrees, goes to prove, that indocility on the part 
of the opposers is apt to follow, and never does follow without evil 
consequences. Ours was an extreme and almost unexampled case. 
Its contrast to that of the apostles, already intimated, is very strik- 
ing. The apostles were all equally ignorant; but they had one 
common teacher. We were all equally wise, and needed no teach- 
er; but still in so far as equality was concerned the effects were the 
same. The apostles did not learn of each other. This fact is in- 
sisted upon by St. Paul, as involving the very essence of his apos- 
tleship. I received it, says he, not from man; nor was I taught it 
by man ; but by revelation from Jesus Christ. How could men 
equally ignorant teach each other? And how can men who are equally 
wise, or think they are, learn of each other? When the apostles had 
any difficulty they went to the all wise master. In our difficul- 
ties we had no master to go to ; but we had a vote, and an equal 
right to vote. We could not give up that right. Who had a right 
to take it away from us ? Observe how the doctrine of the equality 
of the apostles is demonstrated. Their equal instruction from the 
master made them equally capable not of instructing each other, 
but every body else. I am not a whit, says St. Paul, behind the 
chief of the apostles. So he was his equal. All the difficulties 
which have existed among your fathers, and which still exist 
among you, originate in the desperate attempt to teach each other as 
equals. Happily for you my dear young friends, nature has placed 
you, and will place your children beyond this difficulty. Be 
thankful to God, that you are born to learn, that your divine right to 
know all your fathers can teach you, is the divine authority, which 
imposes the obligation of duty upon your fathers to instruct you, or 
to procure instructors for you, to teach you how to understand and 
to practice those principles of society and religion, which give per- 
petuity to civil and religious communities on the earth ; — ( that thy 
political or social existence may be long in this land, which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee.' 

But it will be objected, as it has often been, that in all this dis- 
cussion about lay representation, there is no religion. On religion 
I have written a good deal, since the question of lay representation 
has occupied my attention ; and have habituated my mind to think 



xxviii INTRODUCTION. 

upon it, without the presence of my usual prompters. At an early- 
stage, I turned my thoughts to the causes of salvation, — to the 
causes or means of forming a new social christian character ; — and 
to the causes of divisions among religious communities ; — and es- 
pecially, to the law of faith. On all these points I thought for my- 
self, as well as by myself. But who was there to take my yoke — 
and learn of me ? 

The following is a short extract from my large essay on the 
causes of salvation. "By grace, ye are saved through faith, 
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest 
any man should boast." 

The salvation of believers is insisted upon as a fact, for with- 
out it, the argument in the text would have no application. Sal- 
vation in this and parallel cases includes the pardon and forgiveness 
of sins, and a state of obedience or goodness, which follows pardon, 
and is connected with it. An action good in itself, may be perform- 
ed by a sinner, who does not repent of his sins ; by a sinner who 
does repent of them under a consciousness of his guilt ; and by a 
sinner who has repented, and is conscious that he is pardoned. 
Now this good action does not affect these three different persons, 
or these three different states of mind, in the same person alike, 
Goodness of character in a pardoned sinner, as well as the pardon 
itself is by grace, through faith. Pardon of sin is not by the merit 
of works. The merit of works may be considered in reference to 
the judgment of God, or of man. God does not judge any work 
done by a sinner, as having merit enough to procure his pardon. 
Man may judge a good work as meritorious ; or as a duty having 
no merit. In the latter case he cannot rely upon it, or trust in it, 
for pardon ; in the former case his trust will be false and useless. 
The works of a sinner have no sacrificial merit, and the sinner's 
belief that they have, cannot transfer any to them, and of course 
cannot save him. Sinners cannot pardon their own sins; they can- 
not do any work to merit their pardon from God. Salvation is 
by grace through faith ; it is the gift of God. But a sinner cannot 
be conscious of salvation, or feel, or know that he is saved, without 
faith. No outward demonstration of salvation can be made; and 
no inward exercise of the mind or heart can realize it, while in a 
state of unbelief. If one feels any state, which he believes is im- 
possible, he must conclude it is a delusion. Faith is a medium of 
knowledge, and it is a form or mode of knowledge. So unbelief 
may be a medium of ignorance, and a mode of ignorance. In all 
intellectual and moral conditions, faith and unbelief have great 
agency. 



INTRODUCTION. xxix 

Grace is a primary, or moving cause. After the kindness and 
love of God our Saviour appeared. Faith is an instrumental cause. 
Salvation is not like creation. Faith is not necessary to our crea- 
tion or existence. To be saved through faith, faith must not only 
exist, but all the causes necessary to its origin and existence. Faith 
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

Boasting is excluded by the law of faith. Every emotion and 
modification of the mind and heart connected with faith, leads to, 
or implies dependence. How can they hear without a preacher; 
and how can they preach except they be sent. A promise is to be 
believed, and of course a promiser. But a promise without an 
equivalent for the thing promised, is an act of grace. The thing 
promised is a gift. Behold how unbelievers fail of salvation. — 
Grace makes the promise, or offer to faith, and unbelief rejects it. 

The fact being admitted, that at the early period, when Paul 
wrote to the Ephesians, they were saved; time must be taken into 
the account. The christian religion was then a new religion, and 
the Ephesians were among its most recent converts. Had time 
therefore been required for works necessary to save them, it must 
have been borrowed from some older religion. But salvation by 
grace, through faith ; — the gift of God, depending upon spiritual 
and mental operations, rather than outward works, did not require 
the same time. The sacrificial work, or the meritorious work was 
done, not by themselves, but for them, by another, by grace, as a 
gift, and they were to believe it. These Ephesians since their par- 
don had not sufficient time to become good by habit. They must 
therefore, have been good before, or have been made good by the 
grace of God. What was the state of the fact? Were they good be- 
fore? Let us hear the apostle, "you were dead in trespasses and sins, 53 
says he, "wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of 
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit 
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also 
we had our conversation in time past, in the lusts of the flesh and of 
the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. 
Wherefore, remember, that ye being in. time past gentiles in the 
flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the 
circumcison, in the flesh made with hands, that at that time, ye 
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Is- 
rael, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, 
and without God in the world. — How were they brought from such 
a state ? See the answer. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his 
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, 
3* 



XXX INTRODUCTION. 

hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) we 
are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Ye 
who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 
The salvation of a people, in so corrupt, and helpless, and hopeless 
a state, in so short a time, could not have been of themselves; nor 
of works. The assumption of such a proposition would have 
shocked reason, especially, if contrasted with the following charac- 
ter of the salvation. Sealed with the holy spirit of promise, the 
earnest of the eternal inheritance. The eyes of your under- 
standing being enlightened, that ye might know what is the hope 
of his calling. What the exceeding greatness of his power. We 
both have access by one spirit unto the father ; builded together 
for a habitation of God through the spirit; strengthened with might 
by his spirit in the inner man ; rooted and grounded in love — walk- 
ing with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing 
one another in love, speaking the truth in love, &c. 

Suppose then, that the apostle had said ; it is now but a short 
time since I found you, O ye Ephesians, in such a state of sin; and 
in so short a time, ye have made yourselves so holy, and happy, of 
yourselves, and of your works, without the grace of God, without 
faith, and without the gift of God ; you may well therefore boast, 
for surely no men could have greater cause of boasting. Suppose 
the apostle had said thus, would he not have shocked all reason ? 

It may confidently be affirmed, that effects do not spring from 
causes, before the causes exist. Grace as a cause of salvation pre- 
cedes it. 

Christianity was a new religion. It was new to Paul, and he 
was a new minister of it; the effects of his preaching were also 
new. But Paul was not converted from atheism, or infidelity. He 
had been very religious, in the popular meaning of the term. 
From being one of the strictest, of the most strict sect of the Jews, 
a conscientious and zealous pharisee, he became a christian, and an 
apostle. And he acknowledges, that Judaism, in any sense of the 
word, had no influence in his salvation. He parted with all in 
opinion, and in fact to win Christ ; and he did win him, with the 
loss of all things. He was found in Christ. 

Whoever claims to have saved himself by his works, may be 
fairly asked, when? When did you do it? Before you were a chris- 
tian, or afterwards? If before, were you a Jew, or a Gentile? In 
either case you may boast. If afterwards, how many years did it 
take you to save yourself by your works ? 



INTRODUCTION. xxxi 

Let us apply our reasons by analogy. Is church government, in 
any form necessary to salvation ? Is government grace, or is it 
works ? To which class does it belong ? Is church government ne- 
cessary to the awakening, and conversion of sinners, or to the com- 
mencement of a new church ? Men are, and may be saved, before 
they become members of a church at all. 

The necessity of church government, is urged, in almost every 
instance against new churches, as though there were no such text 
in the New Testament, as cc By grace, through faith." The objec- 
tion does not assume, that a church cannot continue under all cir- 
cumstances, without some government; but that it cannot begin 
to be, as though government "lies against" newly saved, or con- 
verted persons, who continue in their first love. Is not the looking 
for a model of church government in a primitive church, in some 
respects, like looking for salvation by works in it ? Or like looking 
for examples of feeding on strong meat, among babes, who are fed 
on milk only ? 

It is of the utmost importance, that not only the fact of the exis- 
tence of the first church should be settled, but the cause also. Was 
the cause divine? or was it human? or was it so far unknown, as to 
appear accidental? The answer is, it was grace, and faith; by 
grace, through faith : the gift of God ; not human agency, or acci- 
dent. To all the members of the first church, when it first began, 
the whole must have appeared new. They remembered the time 
when the church was not. The apostles too were the newest of all 
preachers. 

We may begin in this country with the last edition of the dis- 
cipline of the Methodist Episcopal church, and go back in a chro- 
nological order, to the conversion of Mr. Wesley ; and by apply- 
ing to every change or addition of the discipline the universal prin- 
ciple or rule, that no cause can follow an effect ; cut off all boasted 
causes of salvation one by one, or compel their advocates to deny 
the salvation of all, before the date of those assumed causes. Thus 
the episcopacy was introduced in 1784. Not a soul was saved by 
it, before it was brought into operation, and so of every case. W T e 
do not contend, that lay representation is necessary to salvation ; 
for if we did we must deny our own salvation ; but we do con- 
tend, that it will not necessarily prevent salvation. It does not 
destroy nor adulterate any truth, as it is in Jesus. It takes no 
jewel out of the Saviour's crown. It does not frustrate the grace 
of God. To say that the friends of lay representation cannot be 
saved, or be a church, must mean or imply, that God will not give 



xxxii INTRODUCTION. 

his grace to them, or that the principle and practice are displeasing 
to God. To be saved by grace, through faith, accords with the 
axiom c God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.' 

Almost all my reputation as a preacher, was derived from themes 
and subjects of grace and faith, which either sprung from, or led to 
the idea of lay representation. Several of these discourses have 
been admired by travelling preachers. Their effects upon myself 
have often been great. My plan has been to publish a second vol- 
ume of miscellaneous essays, and a third volume, exclusively reli- 
gious or theological. Either of the volumes might thus be read 
by itself, though the others might not please, or be regarded with 
indifference. 

NICHOLAS SNETHEN. 

Baltimore, Sept. 15th, 1835. 

Note. — The original overran the calculation. The remaining essays 
in the "Inteligencer" are omitted, as they would have made the volume 
disproportionately thick. 



CONTENTS. 



Animadversions on two essays, - 


Page 

58 


Adynasius to the Querist, - 


- 82 


Anticipations, our Episcopacy, - 


86 


Amicus, letters to, - 


- 112 


do do - - 


115 


Addresses, contrasted, - 


143-144 


Archbishop, the, - 
Avoiding the appearance of evil, 
Address to the friends of Reform, 


151 

- 210 

341 


Answer to Construction of Church Property, 


- 352 


Address to Friends of Principles, 


376 


Burke on Popery Laws, - 


- 223 


Church Freedom, - 


75 


Concluding Essay of Philo Pisticus, 


- 100 


Cap Sheaf, - 


159 


Church and Apostles, - 


- 161 


Church in danger, - 


230 


Church Property, essay on, - 
Dokemasius to the Editors, - 


- 245 
302 


Discourse on Supremacy, - 


- 309 


Ecclesiastical Polity, No. 1, - 


163 


No. 2, 


- 171 


No. 3, - 


174 


Electing Local Preachers, manner of, 


- 215 


Essay on Timothy II. 1 ch. v. 7, 


276 



xxxiv CONTENTS. 

Page 

Freedom of Press and Speech, - 154 

First and second vol. of Wesley an Repository Reviewed, 181 

Feudal System, - - - - - - 239 

Farewell Address of Philo Pisticus, - 242 

Letters to a Young Preacher, - - - 79 

do do ... 88 

do to a Young Member of the Methodist Episcopal 

Church, .... Hi, 148, 157 

Letters from Local Preacher to Travelling Preacher, - 184 

do do do 187,190 

do to Friends and Patrons, 194, 197, 200, 202, 205, 207 

do to a Member of the General Conference, - - 233 

Legal Changes, thoughts on, - - - - 320 

Memorial to Members of the Preachers Annual Conference, 91 

Manner complaints are treated, 94 

Ministerial offices and succession, - 108 

Maryland Convention, sermon before, - 324 

Methodist Philosophy, ----- 368 

Methodist E. Church, - - - - - 374 

Motives, - - - - - 380 

Moral and intellectual states, - - - 383 

NeaPs History of the Puritans, - 218 

Necessity of Union, ----- 304 

Origin and power of offices, - 180 

Present state of things, - - - - - 67 

Preface to vol. ii. 95 

Primitive manner of appointing Preachers, - - 139 

Presiding Elder question, review of, - - 150 

Remarks and observations to travelling preachers, - 37 

Reflections on methodist history, 63 

Review of disagreements, &c. - 131 

Reformer, __.--- 137 



CONTENTS. xxxv 

Page 

Remarks on Revd. J. S's lettter, - - - - 162 

Remarks on Acts, XV. - - - 263 

Reflections by Spectator, ----- 332 

Remarks on Br. B's dedication, - 346 

State of our affairs, - . - - - 69 

Serving two masters, ----- 146 

Serious charges against the W. R. - - - " 176 
Short sermon, - - - - - -371 

Thoughts on Matt. XVIII, 178 

Time for all things, ----- 236 

Thoughts on representation, addressed to, &c. - - 362 

View of the primitive church, - - - - 119 

Warring in a triangle, ----- 161 

Worthy of serious reflection, - - - - 316 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 



JSo. 1. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. August, 1822. pages 132—161. 

Remarks and observations addressed to travelling preachers. 

These essays were first printed in December, 1S20, and sent to travelling preach- 
ers only. 

The writer of these remarks believes, that the friends of 
the plan of itinerancy in the Methodist Episcopal church, 
have more to fear from the natural and irresistible tendency 
of extremes to vibrate opposite ones, than any other cause. 
He is one of those theorists, who conceives that the love 
of power is so general among men, that in any order of 
society, civil or religious, those who yield the principle of 
liberty will never want a master; — that the love of power 
is not always "a master passion that swallows up the rest," 
but sometimes not only divides its dominion with other pas- 
sions, but condescends to minister to them ; that though 
avarice and voluptuousness may be suspended by ambition, 
yet the world never witnessed the absolute possessors of 
unlimited power, through any long series of time, ''in regu- 
lar order and succession," — in poverty— in nakedness — in 
hunger — in journeying often and having no certain dwelling 
place. The doctrines embraced by this writer teach him, 
that grace does not always act irresistibly; — that the spirit 
of infallibility, is not given to church rulers; — that the pas- 
sions of men in official stations, do not become docile and 
inoffensive, in proportion, as legal checks and restraints are 
removed ; and that there is infinite danger in trusting unlim- 
ited power in the hands of any man, or sets of men. 

The discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church having 

divided unto its bishops more power than they themselves 

can execute in person, authorises them to divide the circuits 

and stations into districts, and to appoint elders to preside 

4 



38 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

over those districts in their absence, to do all their duties, 
ordination excepted. But no common or written law, or 
rule exists, by which these servants, or their masters for them, 
are made accountable to the Annual or General Conferences 
for their official acts. The presiding elders have power to 
change the preachers in the absence of a bishop, as the 
discipline directs, and the discipline directs that they may 
do it as often as they please. Not to mention how, by 
secret orders, or the cruel, or capricious disposition of pre- 
siding elders, preachers may be vexed and tortured out of the 
connexion. As the confidential servants of the bishops, 
the presiding elders have his ear when present, and his eye 
when absent. It was well said by one of the late advocates 
of this system, that, "they are the arms and hands of the 
bishops," he might have added the voice too, by which 
they can direct and control the General Conference, &c. 
The artifices under this system of delegated power, which 
require secrecy, may be as effectually concealed as thought 
itself. Any plan that may injure an unsuspicious brother^ 
may be arranged and executed by the bishop and his pre- 
siding elder, without fear of detection. The sincerity of 
the writer will be indignantly appealed to, but to the ques- 
tion; whether it is seriously believed that bishops and presid- 
ing elders, with their present power, can injure the preachers? 
It may be answered, that they have no legal restraint; and 
that the man who disbelieves in their infallibility, must 
believe that they may abuse unlimited power, to the full ex- 
tent of human peccability. He who admits the principle of 
gravity, never hesitates to admit that heavy bodies may fall 
through empty space. — Twenty years or more have elapsed 
since a respectable minority in the General Conference have 
contended for the right and reasonableness of making the 
presiding elders dependant upon the choice of the preach- 
ers. In the General Conference of 1812, a majority was 
supposed to be in favor of the measure, and it was so mod- 
ified as to leave the power to nominate in the hands of the 
bishops : but, as it was known that one of the bishops would 
not serve if the change was made, it was lost by a small 
majority. In the General Conference of 1820, a committee 
of conciliation modified the motion still farther, and it was 
mutually agreed that for each vacancy which might happen 
by resignation, death, or otherwise, the bishops might nom- 
inate three ; out of which number, the Annual Conference 
might choose one. But the senior bishop, and the bishop 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 39 

elect, declaring the plan to be unconstitutional, and the 
former threatening to appeal in the last resort to the Annual 
Conferences, &c. at a later period in the session, when 
several members of the General Conference were absent, the 
vote was taken and the measure suspended for four years. 
This writer knows that a difference of opinion does exist 
among those who wish to modify the existing rules respect- 
ing presiding elders, but he has no reason to believe that it 
was ever intended that any contemplated change should di- 
rectly or indirectly injure the travelling plan, nor is he able 
to conceive how the travelling plan could be affected by 
any modification of this kind. 

No presiding elder could be chosen without the nomina- 
tion of a bishop, and a majority of votes of an Annual Con- 
ference. This writer intreats all travelling preachers to re- 
flect well upon the following questions : Is the Methodist 
Episcopal church free, sovereign, and independent of any 
foreign power, civil or ecclesiastical ? Can such a church 
remain perpetually without feeling, thoughts, and a will of 
its own? Suppose this church should by any means signify 
its determination to have the presiding elders elective, &c. 
What measures in this free country could be adopted to co- 
erce it into submission? Is there any exception to the max- 
im of the American politician, that "the foundation of no 
government is firm and secure, when any considerable body 
in the community have an interest in opposition to the gov- 
ernment ?" In a final trial of strength, what could the bishops 
and their presiding elders do in opposition to preachers and 
people? Has it not long since been proved, that episcopal 
patronage to unproductive pulpits, or empty houses, is a 
feeble auxiliary of episcopal power? 

During the life time of Mr. Wesley, he held every thing 
in the Methodist society in his power. His maxims were, 
you came to me, not I to you. If you are not willing to help 
me as I direct, you shall not help me at all. The ground on 
which he exercised this authority was not only that he con- 
sidered himself as the father of the connexion, but that the 
members of his society were also members of the national 
church, and that those who left his society, experienced no 
change of church relation. Now it appears that there are 
Methodists in this country, who suppose that the Methodist 
Episcopal Church does not differ from the Methodist Soci- 
ety in regard to the power of Mr. Wesley, and the bishops, 
or in respect to the right of membership. If a member is 



40 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

dissatisfied, say they, the only liberty or remedy he has, is 
to withdraw, &c. It is not lawful to call brethren by hard 
names, but there is one part of their conduct calculated to 
render the mind a little querulous. If they admit the right 
of expatriation, ought they not also to admit that it is equally 
right, to seek citizenship elsewhere, and not to indulge quite 
so liberally in their censures of those preachers, and people 
who join other churches ? But it ought to be well under- 
stood that the Methodist Episcopal church in this country 
is not a society within any other church, and the principle 
ought never to be lost sight of, or abandoned, that it is an 
independent church, and that if it has not certain rights and 
privileges, it is entitled to them ; for, the right upon which 
it became a church, originates and secures to it, the means 
of obtaining all others. There was a time when all the 
rights and privileges now enjoyed in the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, did not exist in it, nor were they gained with- 
out opposition. Names dignified with office, appeared as 
usual to vindicate primitive Methodism, and to oppose in- 
novation. Plans were laid, arguments were used, and the 
alarm bell ("the travelling plan is in danger") was rung; 
but none of these things moved the champions of church 
rights from their just purpose. Do not the venerable lead- 
ers of the boundless prerogative plan remember, when by 
an act of a conference, not a general one, the name of 
John Wesley, as first bishop, was struck off the minutes ; 
and when the next highest bishop on the list attempted to 
rebuke the conference for so doing, the preachers and peo- 
ple frowned him into silence? Do they not recollect when 
the exclusive power of trying members was deemed so ne- 
cessary to the travelling plan, that a vindication of this part 
of the prerogative of itinerancy was written by the bishop 
in the commentary on the book of discipline ; but the Gen- 
eral Conference judged otherwise, conceiving that the 
travelling plan would do better without this power, than 
with it; and accordingly gave it to the members of the 
church? From the year 1785 to 1792, there was no General 
Conference; strong objections were made to one. A coun- 
cil was then thought to be more favorable to the travelling 
plan. 'May be the council was chosen by the bishop ; be 
this as it may, nothing short of a General Conference would 
satisfy the preachers, and the council had to go to the wall, 
yet not so itinerancy, all the predictions to the contrary 
notwithstanding. Predictions which have been often falsi- 
fied, ought to lose their credit. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 41 

It is consoling to reflect, that what have been deemed 
innovations, have favored the liberties of the church. If the 
opinions of certain men had prevailed, preachers, and mem- 
bers who conceived that their rights and their privileges were 
withheld, or violated, might have quietly withdrawn, and 
left the bishops and council, and an indefinite number of 
Annual Conferences, to cut the knots they could not un- 
tie; and the members of the church would have remained 
to this day at the mercy of the travelling preachers. Al- 
though the efforts of those who have maintained the long 
and ardent struggle have not been crowned with complete 
success, yet have their labors been not in vain. They have 
maintained a powerful minority in the General Conference, 
and it is to be hoped that their example will finally operate 
upon the preachers who are dispersed through the wilder- 
ness of the west and the south. Could any thing but the 
insulated condition~of those men, their want of social in- 
tercourse, and those views and feelings, which can only be 
produced by a collision of ideas, have kept them so long 
from claiming the rights of an independent church, instead 
of cherishing self complacency in acting the humble part 
of mere subserviency to executive will? Will they not re- 
cover from the bewildering effects of power, and free them- 
selves from ignoble prejudice? A moment's reflection must 
open their eyes to see, and their minds to perceive, what 
a solemn farce the General Conference would have become, 
if the northern preachers, like themselves, had left it quietly 
in possession of presiding elders, favorable to the power of 
bishops. A legislative and judicial body composed of a ma- 
jority of officers of executive appointment and under executive 
patronage? Such a conference ought to have its right name. 
It is a bishop's conference. The council was not more 
exceptionable than a conference of executive men of the 
appointment of bishops. The trial of bishops by a council, 
might be as impartial as before a hundred men, sixty or sev- 
enty of whom might be his servants, and the rest, men who 
have never thought upon church matters without such 
prompters. A council too, as well as such a General Con- 
ference, might expel a bishop for improper conduct, if it 
should judge it necessary, provided he was made amenable 
to it for his conduct. And we may be sure that when a 
man's own dependents judge it necessary to expel him he 
will deserve to be expelled. It is impossible but that if the 
southern and western preachers will consider the case, they 
4* 



42 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

must be convinced that either the presiding elders should 
become accountable to the Annual Conferences, or that a 
rule should be made to prevent them from becoming mem- 
bers of the General Conference. What liberty can there 
be, either in church or state, if the legislative, executive, and 
judicial power, is in the hands of the same men? What 
should we think of an American, who should wish to vote 
for a man holding an office of executive appointment for 
his representative? What should we think of a Congress 
composed of a majority of members under executive pa- 
tronage? This writer does not hesitate to declare, that in 
such an event, he should view the liberties of his country 
on the same level with the liberties of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, with a General Conference, depending on the 
will of the bishops. In either case all but the name of lib- 
erty would be lost. How wonderful, how alarming, is this 
blindness and presumption in the minds of good men. Do 
they suppose they can reverse the immutable decree, "no man 
can serve two masters?" Dare they to trust themselves upon 
the giddy heights and slippery precipices of power, with the 
bones and mangled limbs of myriads of victims of the same 
temerity before them ? Are not the leaves of the Holy Bible 
and of profane history, written within and on the back- 
side with the admonition, beware of power? If, in their ea- 
gerness to grasp at power, they cannot suspect their own 
wisdom and integrity, how is it, that they cannot at least 
reflect upon the sudden changes to which all men and all 
things are liable that depend on the human will; "New 
lords and new laws," says the proverb, and even during the 
life-time of the old lords, "The times may change, and they 
may change with them." The power of the presiding eld- 
ers, enormous as it is, and enviable as it may seem, is not 
well calculated to flatter the minds of thoughtful men. A 
short year may displace an officer, who holds the most po- 
tent office, at the will of another. It might gratify curiosity 
to know, whether in the answer to the question ; "To whom 
shall the bishop be amenable for his conduct ?" the words 
"to expel him if they judge it necessary," were added by 
accident, or by anticipation; but however they came to be 
inserted it happens most opportunely for a court of executors 
that it is left with their own judgment whether they shall be 
a court of executioners or not. How strange it is that such 
a clamor should be raised about responsibility to the Gene- 
ral Conference. Surely there could be no danger of a con- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 43 

ference composed of a majority of presiding elders (chosen 
in the manner proposed by the plan of conciliation) judging 
that a bishop had been guilty of improper conduct in nom- 
inating three elders, much less of its judging it necessary 
to expel him for it. But in fact, this seemingly insignificant 
concession, touched the prerogative in the apple of its eye. 
Every thing else had only brushed the hem of its garment, 
or occasionally put it to temporary inconveniece. The cri- 
sis has at length arrived. From henceforth the whole secret 
of this mysterious policy will be unveiled; every eye will 
see it; and every artifice to explain it away, will only serve 
to make it seven-fold more evident. May it not be presumed, 
that the friends of just principles of church government, 
have experienced their last defeat, and that their opponents 
will be no longer able to maintain their ground ? At the end 
of two years will they not be confounded, if they are not 
convinced — and make some atonement for past errors, by 
their promptness to correct them ; Will not amazement 
seize upon the Annual Conferences when they come to con- 
sider the manner in which they have thrown away their 
suffrages, a privilege next in importance to the Gospel itself? 
When the true spirit of American legislation shall arise in 
the majesty of its strength, and demand for the Methodist 
Episcopal church an independent legislature. Then will 
the government of the church repose upon the immoveable 
basis of a just division, and eternal distinction between 
executive, legislative, and judicial powers : then will the 
Methodist Episcopal church take her station among her 
sister churches in this free and happy land. The finger of 
scorn shall no longer be pointed at her. She shall no more 
be a by-word, and a reproach. Her friends will not blush 
to own her name. The zeal of her sons shall carry the 
gospel in one hand, and the principles of rational religious 
liberty in the other. The book of discipline will then be- 
come a fit companion for the bible, and the name of epis- 
copacy will no longer frighten thousands from embracing 
Methodist doctrines. 

The experience of all ages and countries proves that the 
science of government, though the first in importance to 
mankind, is the most difficult to be learned, and to be re- 
duced to practice. Although the giving of the civil magis- 
trate power to interfere in matters of conscience by uniting 
the church to the state, has justly met with infinite opposi- 
tion in our country, it is not to be presumed that the prin- 



44 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

ciples of civil and religious liberty are no wise analogous. 
For, although the wants of civil and religious society may 
differ in form and detail, and may require different applica- 
tions ; yet the rights and privileges of both may be vindica- 
ted upon the same principles. Whatever may be the mode 
of government, the principles of freedom are fixed and 
eternal, and are entitled to consideration independent on 
the characters of rulers. It may be in some cases in the 
power of genius, guided by virtue, to give a temporary and 
limited control to erroneous principles; but no human art 
or effort, can prevent the effect they ever tend to produce; 
the ultimate ruin will be as inevitable as fate. An absolute 
or unlimited form of government may be traced to the au- 
thority of a father in his own family. The patriarch be- 
comes the head of the tribe, and if circumstances require 
him to exercise it in arms, he loses none of his domestic 
authority in the camp, or in the field. The Emperor, the 
King, the High Priest, &c. cannot have more power than 
a father in his own family. Whoever succeeds to this kind 
of power, or rather usurps it in a church or a state, needs no 
other to become the most desperate of tyrants. Fathers 
anciently, according to the testimony of history, exercised 
the power of excommunication, and of life and death over 
their children. If there could have been any true legal suc- 
cessor to the power of the primogenitor of the race, or the 
nation, his right to govern them absolutely would have been 
indisputable. It is in vain to contend for civil or religious 
liberty, unless it can be first demonstrated that the very 
doctrine of succession to patriarchal or paternal authority 
is wrong :— is contrary to nature. Parental affections are 
not transferable — no man can succeed to the feelings of a 
father. The absolute power of a parent can only be quali- 
fied by parental feeling. The cruelty of "step dames" has 
been proverbial in all times. Would it offend against the 
truth, to call those who arrogate to themselves the paternal 
attributes of government, political or ecclesiastical "step- 
fathers." Every matter of fact evidence, every argument 
aposteriori, goes to demonstrate that paternal power, as 
soon as it ceases to be qualified by parental affection, be- 
gins to degenerate into tyranny, and therefore ought not to 
be perpetuated beyond the life of the real father himself: 
"The government of China bears a strong resemblance to 
what has been called the patriarchal form, from whence it 
is supposed to have been originated. The emperor pos- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 45 

sesses the most unlimited authority, and can issue new laws, 
or abrogate old ones at his pleasure. He is the undisputed 
master of the lives and liberties of his subjects, and no sen- 
tence of death can be executed without his consent. To 
his revision in like manner, every verdict in civil suits is 
subject, and has no force, till it receives his confirmation. 
All his own sentences are executed without delay, and all 
his edicts acknowledged throughout the empire, as if they 
were the mandates of the Deity. He is the source of all 
power in his dominions; dispenses honors at his own will, 
and appoints, and dismisses, the Mandarins of every class 
without control. The princes of the blood alone, or those 
who bear that title, cannot be degraded, or punished with- 
out a trial, but as the sovereign has the power of nomina- 
ting the judges, he always possesses the means of disposing 
of the life, or liberty of the highest personages who incur 
his displeasure, &c. &c. &c." "This unlimited power of 
the crown appears to be as ancient as the empire itself, and 
is regarded as one of the fundamental laws of the govern- 
ment. It is stili further augmented, and confirmed by the 
principle of filial respect towards the government, which is 
carefully instilled into every one of the people from their 
birth, which arises almost to adoration, and which represents 
all disobedience to the commands of the monarch as an 
unpardonable crime." To this picture of patriarchal gov- 
ernment in China, it is proper to add that the Tartar dynas- 
ty, who now rules over the Chinese people, have not one 
drop of Chinese blood in their veins ; and that this paternal 
power has been succeeded to by conquest. 

In this country we have one name dignified by courtesy, 
with the title of " father of his country." But Washington 
himself received his commissions of commander in chief, 
and President, from the American people, and into their 
hands he resigned them. No individual can claim the dis- 
tinction of father of American independence. The Ameri- 
can people were the makers of their own political fortunes, 
and not any individual. No paternal government ever ex- 
isted in the United States, this is the freest of all govern- 
ments, because the constitution, and the laws, are purified 
from every vestige of paternal power. Every office is de- 
fined by law, every officer is responsible to the people, and 
no two offices are united to the same person. Had any 
man claimed, and been recognized as the successor of the 
claims of the British government, we could not have been 



46 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

free ; for we became free in consequence of throwing off 
the power of the mother country; that is the patriarchal 
power j or its claim to the right of taxing us without our 
consent. The degree of freedom in every country is found 
to be in proportion to the degree it has freed itself from 
patriarchal power, or has substituted laws in the place of 
it. In regard to religious freedom, the paternal authority 
in succession is as hostile it, as to civil freedom. All ec- 
clesiastical tyranny may grow from this root, and in most 
cases may be traced to it. Both the name and the thing, 
are in some cases retained in the church— Patriarch, — 
Pope, — Right Rev. Father in God, &c. are names of the 
same origin, and import. The patriarch of Constanti- 
nople, the Pope among the Romanists, the Rt. Rev. Father 
in God among the English and others, differ from each 
other only as genus and species, if they differ at all. What 
mode, or form of church government is wholly freed from 
patriarchal power? Why should the lovers of religious liber- 
ty, attempt to disprove the succession from St. Peter? Is it 
not plain that if an ordinal succession from St. Peter, or 
any other apostle, could be proved, the successor might' be 
among the greatest of the ecclesiastical tyrants. The go- 
vernment of popes, or of any body else, may be very pri- 
mitive, and yet as has been shewn may be improper in suc- 
cession. The apostles were real fathers, founders and 
planters of churches. "They could do nothing against 
the truth, but for the truth. Their bowels yearned over 
those they had begotten through the gospel. They preach- 
ed at a time and in places where Christ was not named. 
They were wise master builders, who laid the foundations 
for others to buiid upon, &c." But by what mysterious, 
what magical influence is it, that the children can become 
fathers of their great grand-fathers ? It is certainly as much 
beyond the power of grace as it is of nature. Our objec- 
tion to a papal form of government, is not only founded 
upon the excess of its power, above the apostolic, but to 
its attempt to arrogate to itself apostolical attributes in suc- 
cession. But as Methodists, we also have had religious fa- 
thers, and founders, who constituted us, and not we them. 
Now it is difficult if not impossible, for fathers to raise their 
children, to equality in power with themselves. Children 
can hardly bear such equality, or treat their fathers as equals. 
Nature ordains and limits parental power to parents them-* 
selves. Few instances occur of parents and children doing 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 47 

well when parents give their property, which in this case is 
their power, into the hands of their children. We would 
not call the father of Methodism, a tyrant, even if we could 
prove that he was not a good father ; but though it should 
be demonstrated, that his parental affections were, to the 
utmost degree, pure, ardent, and impartial, yet we should 
feel infinitely hostile to the continuance or succession of 
his fatherly power. We have no objection to a Methodist 
Episcopal Church, but to a patriarchal power in succession, 
in its bishops. Let us have bishops, and if all parties are 
agreed, a succession of them; but let all their power and 
authority be strictly legal, and let them be subject to legal 
restraints. Why should we endeavor to do violence to na- 
ture and to grace ? Fathers may beget children, but those 
children cannot be fathers to one another. If a brother 
attempts to assume the authority of a father over his breth- 
ren, he embraces the principle of tyranny, by the very at- 
tempt. In so far as the founder of Methodism wished (if 
he did wish) to perpetuate patriarchal authority in bishops, 
he labored under an error of the most disastrous conse- 
quence ; for that germ of tyranny, would be thus cherished 
in the church, which has proved fruitful of oppression in 
every age. 

But what opinion can be entertained of those who can 
obtain their own consent, to accept of such paternal attri- 
butes ? Do they really think that the office will create the 
affections necessary to qualify unlimited power? or, that it 
will engender in the bosoms of those whom they shall at- 
tempt to govern, a correspondent degree of filial reverence ? 
Fatal mistake ! They will prove to their sorrow, little else 
in their administration, than a struggle with the repulsive 
disposition of the human heart; "Paul I know, and Jesus 
I know, but who are ye!" The father knows his children, 
and the children their father; but what legitimate relation 
can be recognized in these "step-fathers," or by them. In 
vain shall they rely upon nature or grace to originate natural 
or gracious obedience, to unnatural and ungracious authori- 
ty. Just so much of the fatherly authority of the founder 
of Methodism, as a Methodist bishop accepts, just so much 
his authority exceeds that of a christian bishop. No man 
but a proper father has any right to exercise unlimited au- 
thority in the church. Legal checks are necessary for the 
preservation of religious liberty. Say you that you govern 
after the manner of the apostles ? ! say not so. It would 



48 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

be tyranny in you to do as the apostles did, as much as it 
would for you to do in another man's house or family, just 
as he does. There can be no equality between parents and 
children, but as soon as children become independent of 
parental authority, they have a natural and inherent right to 
enter into a state of equal society among themselves. Pa- 
rents have no right by their last will and testament, to en- 
tail sovereignity on some of their children, and slavery on 
the rest. In this respect, God be praised, men are born 
free. 

Religion, when considered in respect to the relation be- 
tween God and man, can give rise to no question of church 
government ; but when it is considered in regard to the re- 
ligious themselves, it involves very intimate and important 
social principles. How then can we endure the hypothesis, 
that according to the New Testament, all the principles 
which lead to civil tyranny, are sanctioned in the church to 
their full extent, and that reliance is placed upon superna- 
tural power to correct them. Such an hypothesis offends 
against every view we can take of the divine dispensations. 
Was it ever known that infinite wisdom and omnipotent 
power, were displayed to produce either natural or moral 
paradoxes? In this case, unfortunately, the mischief is not 
only done before the remedy is applied, but is beyond the 
power of the remedy. The trespasses of ecclesiastical pow- 
er upon the social rights of religion, have ever been followed 
by wide spreading ruin. Destruction, as well as misery, 
are in all its ways. The New Testament abounds with the 
soundest social principles and maxims ; but as it regarded the 
apostles, they did not go into operation in their full extent, 
by reason of the plentitude of their apostolical authority, 
which we have seen was a species of the patriarchal. We 
behold in their case, the family in the life-time of the pa- 
rents. Their practice of course resembled more the man- 
agement of children than the proceedings of equals, min- 
istering justice among men under circumstances of equali- 
ty. All the advantage of age and experience, as well as of 
inspiration, were on the side of the apostles. They had 
no competitors, or equals, in these respects. None could 
succeed to their circumstances, or to their work. No par- 
ticular case can have more than one beginning. One resur- 
rection could have but one set of witnesses. Now, let it 
be supposed, that a church is oppressed by a tyrant, as sub- 
tle as he is cruel ; who, by a common refinement in policy, 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 49 

contrives to make his ambition minister to his popularity ; 
but when complaints can no longer be suppressed ; when 
the injurious effects of unlimited power can no longer be 
denied; recourse is had to apostolic and primitive prece- 
dent, to prove that no authority exists in the church, by 
which its rulers can be restrained or corrected. Is it not plain 
that this position, and all the arguments predicated upon it, 
must be treated as mere artifices of despotism, or the pre- 
cepts of the New Testament may be trodden under foot? 
Let us answer all these fictions of ambition at once — true, 
the fathers commanded, and the children obeyed ; but you 
are not fathers, and we are not your children. You have 
no right to exercise any but legal authority. You must be 
legally restrained, from injuring those whom you ought to 
govern. Every society which has a right of existence, has 
a right of preservation. When Jesus Christ sent forth his 
disciples, he sent them as lambs among wolves ; with in- 
structions to "be as wise as serpents, and as harmless as 
doves," but St. Paul forsees that the shepherds of the flock 
will be converted by the lust of power into ravening wolves; 
that from among those very elders, whom the Holy Ghost 
had made overseers, there would arise men, who would 
speak perverse things. 

Brethren, whenever you hear the advocates of unlimited 
power pleading as precedents, the acts, or the opinions of 
the founder of Methodism, or any one else, do not suffer 
your minds to be beguiled by venerable names. Look 
steadily to consequences, and make your determination 
either to take a timely and resolute stand, or to submit to 
an endless succession of Right Reverend Fathers in God, 
or Popes, or Patriarchs. They will not indeed be lords 
primates of all England, nor Bishops of Rome, nor of Con- 
stantinople ; but a change of title, or of residence, will not 
alter the nature of the office : it will be of the same class. 
Methodist bishops, with unlimited patriarchal power in suc- 
cession, must, like their predecessors of other names, of 
other countries, and of other ages, have recourse to an in- 
finity of arts to supply the want of real relation. Conscious 
of the artificial nature of their power, and full of suspicion, 
lest those whom they call children have no filial and cor- 
dial affection for them ; no solid basis for mutual confidence 
can exist between them. Already have some specimens 
been exhibited of the genuine nature of this paternal prin- 
ciple among us. It will not now bear the sight or the an- 
5 



50 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

ticipation of legal restraints any more than formerly. Evi- 
dence is not wanting that men of a few years standing in 
the ministry, feel no checks of conscience, when they are 
about to succeed to all the paternal powers of fathers cover- 
ed with years, and glory, and environed around with thou- 
sands of affectionate sons. Will the aged, and toil-worn 
servants of the gospel bow to the mitre on their youthful 
heads, with the affection and docility of children ? 

If we may trust to the conduct of the advocates of un- 
limited power, the great danger lies in setting bounds 
to the prerogative of the patriarchs in succession. From 
their arguments it may be inferred, that if every bishop is 
not endued with as much power as the father of Method- 
ism, the apostolical plan will be subverted, and the cause of 
God ruined. Peter had power, and did not abuse it, and 
therefore his successors cannot abuse it, is an argument of 
the same kind which those use, who contend that Method- 
ist bishops ought to have all the powers of the founder of 
the society. The arguments in either case might have 
some effect upon us, if we believed in the transmigration of 
souls. We who live in this age do not behold the wonder 
which St. John saw. The great mystery now is not a 
woman clothed with the beams of the sun, but a church 
almost two thousand years older than its present father. 
This wonderful case is in part accounted for by the doc- 
trine of succession, but is more fully explained by the prin- 
ciple of being born back again, or of degeneration. Every 
time this spiritual child gets a new father, it is reduced to 
its original infancy; and so to the end of time will be kept 
in a perpetual state of childhood, and dependence, and will 
never be able to live without a father. The same phenom- 
enon will appear in the Methodist Episcopal Church, if its 
bishops continue to be a race of fathers. These succes- 
sors must continue to manage the church just as a father 
does his children, as a church cannot arrive at manhood as 
long as the patriarchal power lasts. 

It was not without hesitation and reluctance, that any 
political parallels were introduced ; but it cannot but be 
perceived in the epitome that has been given of the Chinese 
government, that its origin and nature are applicable, with 
a few exceptions, to what is called popish or fatherly go- 
vernment in the church in perpetual succession. And the 
reflection unavoidably obtrudes itself, that eternal father- 
hood, and eternal childhood are inseparable. How exactly 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 51 

the actual state of things accords with this theory no argu- 
ment is necessary to prove. Is not obedience to the suc- 
cessive fathers of the church, as they are called, secured 
by a system of education almost like that of China? Is not 
filial respect for them amounting almost to adoration, in- 
stilled into the minds of the people from their birth ? Are 
they not taught to consider all disobedience to their order, 
as next to unpardonable crime? 

What is a constitution ? According to the opinion of the 
most approved writers upon the subject, it is an instrument 
of relation that cannot be made, altered, or abrogated by a 
legislative power; but by the united consent and authority 
of a whole community. The United States, and each indi- 
vidual state in the union, have a written constitution from 
which the legislative authority is derived. In other coun- 
tries where the form of government cannot be traced to any 
common act, or choice of the people, much pains have been 
taken, and great learing displayed, to prove that a constitu- 
tion may exist without such choice or consent. Americans 
however think otherwise, and act accordingly. In the Me- 
thodist Episcopal Church, no instrument was ever dignified 
with the name of a constitution ; but in the year 1808, six 
articles were framed under the denomination of limitations 
and restrictions. In that year, about the usual number of 
travelling preachers, an hundred or a little upwards, met in the 
General Conference, at the appointed interval of four years, 
without any previous instructions from others, or notice from 
themselves, of an intention to do any other than the ordi- 
nary acts of a General Conference, except in regard to the 
future election of its members, and did then, and there, de- 
termine, that the General Conference should thereafter be 
composed of repiesentatives in equal proportion of all the 
annual conferences, in order that all the travelling preach- 
ers might have equal influence in the General Conference, 
as it was found in fact, that a majority of the General Con- 
ference was composed of preachers near the place of its 
sitting, &c. &c. and that it should be limited and restricted 
as intimated above, &c. but the word constitution is not found 
in the book of discipline. And if we may be permitted to 
think and speak as Americans, neither that General Con- 
ference, nor any body among us, was ever organised or en- 
dued with prerogatives, to make a constitution. The Gen- 
eral Conference of 1808, might signify its opinion or wish 
to its successors, but the most that can be said of its limiting 



52 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

and restricting enactments, is that they are laws having no 
more binding authority upon its successors, than legislative 
acts. It is to be hoped that every preacher will admit that 
the General Conference of 180S had none of the attributes 
or powers of constitution makers, as all are infinitely inte- 
rested in disavowing such a precedent, and in having the 
origin, and nature of a constitution, clearly and distinctly 
defined. 

For it may be presumed that every American who turns 
his attention to the subject, and examines it, will decide up- 
on it according to the just and equitable principle upon 
which the present glorious charter of their civil liberties is 
founded. Can any thing shock the mind of an American 
more than the idea of a constitution originating in the im- 
plied construction of the voluntary acts of certain individ- 
uals, and deriving strength from the silent operation of time. 
Those who are disposed to maintain that the acts of the 
General Conference of 1808, were of a constitutional nature, 
though not so named, will of course disclaim the constitu- 
tionality of all acts prior to that date. Previously to that 
memorable epoch, the rule makers in conference acted pro- 
fessedly upon the assumption that every generation grows 
wiser and wiser. They conceived it to be proper to tell 
their brethren that in their judgment it was advisable to re- 
view their former acts ; and to take advantage of past expe- 
rience. We are not now attempting to shew which is the 
better mode ; nor are we disposed to give any opinion at 
this time upon the merit of these six restrictions ; all we 
contend for is, that if they were really intended for a con- 
stitution, those who acted with such intention, overleaped 
the bounds of all authority and precedent ever furnished in 
this country. If those who come after them choose to be 
bound by them, be it so; but how strangely does it sound 
to hear men declare that their legislative predecessors took 
away from them the power of legislating. 

As the General Conference of 1820, were pretty equally 
divided upon the question of constitutionality, it seems that 
they took an order to advise with the annual conferences 
upon the subject, which to this hour, is, without form and 
void, and darkness remaining upon the face of it. When 
the creating power shall pronounce its fiat, — Let there be a 
constitution. — Let there be delegates organised, and em- 
powered, after the manner of Americans. — Let those dele- 
gates return the result of their proceedings to their constit* 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 53 

uents, then with their approbation, let there be a constitu- 
tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and let all be go- 
verned, by what all have had a voice in making. But if it 
is not judged expedient to proceed thus, let the advocates 
for unlimited patriarchal power in perpetual succession, 
say nothing about the constitution of 1808 ; that supposed 
palladium of their cause will prove infinitely inefficacious. 
A spontaneous constitution is of no value in the eyes of 
those who have been schooled among the disciples of '76. 
Besides they ought to be aware that once they begin to agi- 
tate this question, and thus break the spell of silence, others 
may follow the example, and they may find sooner than they 
wish, that the most powerful voice is the most numerous one. 
Could a greater apple of discord be thrown among the 
annual conferences, than this said undefined and unde- 
finable constitutional question ? Can any mortal believe that 
a General Conference, of from one hundred to an hundred 
and twenty preachers, of their own voluntary act, had any 
right to ordain, and decree, that the bishops should forever af- 
ter have the sole choice of presiding elders, unless all the an- 
nual conferences, and a majority of two-thirds of their del- 
egates should determine to the contrary? Or, that if they 
had, and meant to make such a limitation, or restriction, they 
would have left it to be inferred, or implied, and not have 
expressed it in the very letter ? The Delegated General Con- 
ference, says the restriction, "shall not change, or alter any 
part, or rule of our government, so as to do away Episcopa- 
cy, or (which it seems is the same thing) destroy the plan 
of our itinerant general superintendency ! " therefore, say 
the oracles of the constitution, the Delegated General Con- 
ference has no power to alter the present method of choos- 
ing the presiding elders; so as to enable the annual confer- 
ences to have a choice out of three, who should be nomi- 
nated by the bishops to fill each vacancy which might hap- 
pen by death, or resignation, or otherwise ; for that would 
destroy the plan of our itinerant general superintendency!" 
The only destruction which could be in this way, is suppo- 
sitious. It would indeed destroy the unlimited powers of 
the bishops in that point, the choice of presiding elders, as 
far as the smallest conceivable limitations could do it. But 
until the experiment is made, any other effect must remain 
matter of opinion. Was there ever a more convenient plan 
devised to enable executive men to control legislative pro- 
ceedings than this said question (as it now stands) of con- 
5* 



54 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

stitutionality ? In what constitution, except his own, can a 
bishop find power to appeal to annual conferences ? How 
would the case be if one or two conferences should differ 
from all the rest ? Who would govern then ? There was a 
time before the departure of our venerable patriarch, that a 
hope was cherished, that after he should be taken from us, 
no one would wish to see patriarchal power perpetuated 
among us by succession. But ever since the painful ne- 
cessity was imposed upon us of yielding this fond anticipa- 
tion, doubts have multiplied whether the full time for the 
forming a constitution was yet. come ; — whether our views 
of rational religious liberty were yet sufficiently matured, 
and diffused for such a work. It is not enough for a peo- 
ple to will to be constitutionally free, they must know how 
to make, and to carry into effect a constitution, whose princi- 
ples and provisions shall secure the rights and liberties of 
every member of the community. Our apprehensions upon 
this score will not yield in any considerable degree to evi- 
dence, until we shall begin to see bishops blush at the idea 
of choosing masters for others, and elders shrink back with 
honor from any office in which they must rule over free 
men without their consent. As long as men can be found 
among us so devoid of the spirit of religious liberty, and so 
unrestrained by respect for public opinion, as to vindicate 
as matter of right, a power which makes men lords over God's 
heritage, so long shall we find the attempt to make a consti- 
tution a hazardous one, and (should it succeed) the advan- 
tages problematical. It is no very difficult task for men 
devoted to unlimited prerogative, to make the letter of any 
instrument, minister to their views as has been witnessed 
in this present case. Before the year eighteen hundred 
and eight, we heard nothing about unconstitutionality on 
the presiding elder question ; but now, though a majority 
of that conference be still living, and probably would de- 
clare that the idea of making the choice of the presiding el- 
ders a constitutional question never entered into their heads, 
and we know that a number of the members of that conven- 
tion would have contended to the last extremity against such 
an idea ; yet preachers can be terrified with the spectre of 
unconstitutionality. Brethren, it is the soul and spirit of a 
constitution which we need. That want of taste for reli- 
gious liberty, of which we have so many painful examples, 
and that facility with which men can be induced to take 
offices over the heads of their brethren, whom they know 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 55 

would never submit to their domination, but out of love 
for the peace of the church, is calculated to humble us 
to the dust. We bear the reproach, and are confounded. 
He must have a large share of grace, or of insensibility, 
who can reflect upon these things, without feeling almost 
maddened. It is a mortifying consideration, that so many 
good men can really think they do God service by support- 
ing a system, which has not one amiable feature to recom- 
mend it. A General Conference of travelling elders choose 
a bishop, and he tells them it is unconstitutional for them to 
attempt to exercise any thing like a limited negative in the 
choice of presiding elders, and a majority of those holy 
men love to have it so, and determine that it shall be so for 
at least four years longer.* What conscientiousness ! What 
piety ! This sacred instrument, (their own construction of 
an ideal constitution) like the ark, must remain untouched. 
The speculations of good men have ever been known to be 
adhered to with a tenacity proportional to the religious im- 
portance which they affix to them. In pursuing this sub- 
ject, let us endeavor to maintain our charity, and to exer- 
cise long suffering, and forbearance towards our brethren. 
We believe they are doing an indirect injury to religion ; 
they believe that our plan will affect it immediately. We think 
that they are administering poison through a mistake for 
medicine ; they think we are aiming a dagger at the heart, 
and find it next to impossible to believe us sincere. We 
on the contrary, can easily perceive, how they may be mis- 
taken, and of course be sincere. Moreover the actual in- 
jury of their plan can be much more readily perceived by us 
than by themselves, not only on account of the natural 
slowness of the heart to believe evil of its own, but obvious- 
ly, because others will not trouble them with information, 
or complaint. Slaves are not wont to make confidents of 
their masters. While we admit the facts on which the eu- 
logium of the present system is founded, we are constantly 
reminded of the fable of the Lion and the Sign. 



*No man ought to be questioned for any thing he says in a hall of le- 
gislation, but when men legislate out of doors, they place themselves 
within the reach of animadversion. The vote to reconsider the plan 
of conciliation, came out a tie, yet after several of the members had 
left the conference, a paper was taken round among the members, and 
forty-five signers were engaged, and pledged to vote for a suspension of 
the rule for four years. The principal mover of the measure declared 
the fact before the conference, in defiance of argument, &c. &c. 



§6 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

A lion seeing a sign with a man killing a lion, painted on 
it, is made to say, if lions were painters, they would paint 
lions killing men. The societies that have wasted away 
and come to nothing — the little success that has attended 
our preaching in many places, and the places to which we 
are denied all access, ought not to be wholly lost sight of 
in this account. But orators are not prone to keep accounts 
of profit and loss ; they are apt not only to give full credit 
for all success, but also in the warmth of self-love, to trans- 
fer to themselves some of the claims due to others. Glori- 
ous frontier victories and foreign conquests in civil govern- 
ments, are sometimes followed by internal debility and 
revolutions. The greatness of nations, in the opinion of 
good judges, consist in internal strength, confidence, and 
sound principles of social liberty, &c. &c. Perhaps, too, 
the success in the new settlements may be in part owing 
to the number of Methodists who are migrating in that di- 
rection, as well as to the circumstance of the bishops hav- 
ing the uncontrolled choice of the presiding elders, at least 
the former seems to be quite as immediate a cause as the 
latter. Are we not bound to take into consideration the 
relative condition of churches in this country? The com- 
parative degree of ministerial and religious liberty, is of the 
utmost importance in a competition. If our condition 
were the most free, it might be the subject of complacency 
and applause. But is it not far otherwise? Is there a man 
among us so blinded by self-love and prejudice, as not to 
perceive that the absolute and iron features of our govern- 
ment, are objects of general shame and scandal. The 
friends of liberty can see not only no shades of liberty, in 
our present plan of presiding eldership, but they can find 
no apology for it. They are lost in astonishment when 
they observe Americans, who are born heirs to the blood- 
bought inheritance of sacred liberty, voluntarily submitting 
to the condition of wretched slaves, and depriving them- 
selves of the privilege of having a mere negative voice in 
the choice of their overseers. Ah ! we have heard such 
like reproaches and sarcasms, till both our ears have ting- 
led ! they have preyed upon our vitals like a hectic. We 
have exclaimed in the feverish excitement, what infatuation 
has seized upon Methodist preachers ! Is this state of 
things, this vexatious condition to be eternal ! Considering 
that we are a new people, with little or no advantage from 
education* wealth, or splendid talents, it might have been 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 57 

supposed, that it would have been deemed a point of first 
rate importance to make every part of our economy as un- 
exceptionable as possible to an independent people, who 
glory in their zealous watchfulness of the principles of 
liberty : Not so, our spirit is too apostolic, too primitive, 
too tenacious of the pattern showed us on the mount, to 
pay any regard to such carnal and worldly considerations. 
We have a logic, which none of the rulers of this free peo- 
ple know. While they employ the whole force of genius 
to stop up every avenue of unlimited power, and frown 
with indignation upon every indication of despotism; we 
reason thus: The apostles chose evangelists; therefore, 
our bishops are apostles. The evangelists were directed to 
set things in order, in the absence of the apostles, and 
therefore, our presiding elders are evangelists. It is in our 
opinion of no consequence to this reasoning, that the pre- 
cedent was in Crete in some newly planted churches of the 
Gentiles. This would be a most irresistable kind of argu- 
mentation, if it were not apt to prove too much. It could 
be proved in this way, that the Collossians were the pre- 
siding elders of Archippus. 

But, would it not be well to abate a little of this rigor, 
especially among ourselves? Admitting that the duties of 
presiding elders are all scriptural, can they not all be at- 
tended to equally well by the presiding elders, who are 
conditionally within the choice of their brethren, as by those 
who are chosen by the bishops alone? In looking carefully 
over the table of duties, belonging to presiding elders, we 
do not perceive any part of those duties to consist in espi- 
onage, or sergeantry. Why they should withhold from the 
bishops any information proper for honest men to give, and 
receive, because the mode of their election is varied, it is 
difficult to conceive. But what kind of charge do the pre- 
siding elders really take of the elders, deacons, and preach- 
ers, travelling and local, in their districts? It does not be- 
come us to answer such a question. Men will no doubt 
differ widely in opinion in such matters. We trust we are 
not fastidious, nor very tenacious of little things. Our aim 
is higher. We wish to see our rights and privileges secur- 
ed in principle, as well as practice, and the broadest base 
laid for mutual confidence. That we are not so singular in 
this respect, as some may suppose, might be made to ap- 
pear, by an appeal to our history. The limitation of the 
presiding elders to four years in one district, was not coeval 



58 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

with the order. Why may not a bishop suffer a presiding 
elder to preside for more than four years in one district; 
when he has a plenary power to remove him every year, 
and to alter the districts at his pleasure ? Is there not some 
squinting of jealousy in this business? Or was there a fear 
lest the servants might prove too powerful for their masters 
single handed ? However such checks on power may be in- 
troduced, if they are of apostolic authority, they are all 
right. To conclude, the bishops of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church have unlimited executive power. In the choice 
and appointment of presiding elders, and the formation of 
the districts, they possess the power of making the means 
and instruments of despotism. By the agency of presiding 
elders, they can manage and control the legislative and ju- 
dicial departments. By the construction given to the 
enactments of the General Conference of 1808, the power 
of the bishops is not only put beyond the General Conference, 
but of eleven-twelfths of the annual conferences. A ma- 
jority of one voice in a single annual conference enabling 
the bishops to retain and to exercise all their present pow- 
ers, in defiance of the whole power of the rest of the tra- 
velling preachers, presiding elders always excepted, for let 
them be Pew or many, the districts can always be arranged 
accordingly. Surely it is time for travelling preachers to 
pause and reflect. O ye reformers ! who believe that God's 
design in raising you up in America, was to reform the con- 
tinent, and to spread scriptural holiness over these lands! 
Think you that it is God's design to bring back Christianity 
in these lands, and to place it again under a species of pa- 
pal government or power? Do not be alarmed at the name, 
if you are not afraid of the thing. This is a legitimate 
term, it means the power of a succession of fathers (so 
called) fortified by spontaneous constitutions, and laws 
confirmed by usage, and incorporated with the prejudices 
of education. Adynasius. 



No. 3. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. i. August 16, 1821, No. x. page 151. 

Animadversions on two Essays "On Church Government " 
published in the 8th number of this paper, and signed U A 
Methodist." 

The number alluded to, shall furnish us with text. "If a 
member of our church shall be clearly convicted of en,dea- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 59 

voring to sow dissensions by inveighing against our disci- 
pline, &c." Self preservation appears to be the first law of 
society as well as of nature. Every community that has a 
lawful right to existence, has undoubtedly a right to use 
the means of self preservation. The only question in this 
case is, what means are lawful. Observe, inveighing against 
the discipline is not made the object of offence, but the 
means: a man therefore may utter censure or reproach, 
against the discipline, and if it cannot be clearly proved 
that his object is "to endeavor to sow dissensions in any of 
our societies," the case does not come under cognizance. 
The article, if I remember rightly, was introduced into the 
form of discipline after the separation of James O'Kelly, 
whose friends had endeavored to sow dissensions in the so- 
cieties in this very manner. It is due however to "A Me- 
thodist," even if he errs respecting the origin and nature of 
the rule, to acknowledge that he is not singular in his 
opinions, for many believe it to be what is commonly called 
"a gag law!" and that it was made in the beginning, to pre- 
vent full enquiry and discussion. We have always thought 
otherwise ; but we have not the means by us to prove which 
of us is in the right. It were to be wished that enact- 
ments which are predicated upon temporary and acciden- 
tal circumstances, might expire by their own limitation, and 
not be suffered to remain like a dead letter in the discipline 
long after the occasion for them ceases. A man who la- 
bors to effect a change or repeal of a law or existing customs, 
and lives in peace with his brethren as an orderly member of 
society, cannot be clearly convicted of endeavoring to sow 
dissensions, but it must be confessed, that judges in judging 
of law as well as fact, may through misapprehension of its 
meaning, extend its penalties beyond the intentions of its 
original enactors. The writer of the essays, it seems could 
not bring himself to write upon our church government till 
he was heated to the boiling point, but this is no proof of an 
endeavor to sow dissension, &.c. it rather argues that with 
all the conceived faults of the church, he loves her still. 
We are not displeased with his warmth — "Let the righteous 
smite me friendly — faithful are the wounds of a friend." If 
the General Conference could be clearly convicted of en- 
deavoring to suppress free enquiry or the liberty of speech 
and of the press, we should think the endeavor to sow dis- 
sensions harmless in the comparison; and we should feel it 
to be our indispensible duty to use every means in our pow- 



60 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

er to disqualify them from "persisting in such pernicious 
practices." 

Wesley, Coke, and Asbury, &c. are the next points in 
the text to which we turn our attention. And we take the 
liberty to say, that we felicitate ourselves in the conscious- 
ness, that for thirty years, whenever we have had occa- 
sion to think or to speak of the principles or practices of 
those venerable men, either in their presence or absence, 
we have thought and spoke above the influence of fear or 
favour. We are conscious too, of an inclination and ef- 
fort to analyze their character more critically, than if our re- 
lation to them had been less intimate. They certainly never 
suspected us of a disposition to become their flatterers. 
There was a time when we were slow of heart to believe 
in the sincerity of Mr. Wesley's confessions of his lack of 
theory, or in other words, his attributing so many of his 
plans to accident; but we have long since felt no doubt on 
that score, and now think that few men ever lived of the 
same natural and acquired abilities, who was less of a po- 
litical theorist. There are two kinds of theorists — one kind 
theorise in anticipation, the other upon facts or experi- 
ments. The former are called projectors, and the latter 
practical. Mr. Wesley, as it related to religious govern- 
ment or polity, excelled in neither of these respects; but 
nevertheless, it may have accidently happened that the plan 
he adopted for the new church in this country approached 
nearer to practicability, than if he had attempted to give 
us a theory. It would be next to miraculous, if the most 
profound European theorist could strike out a plan of 
church government best suited to the character and condi- 
tions of Americans. All the men who were to become the 
immediate agents in the new order of things had been form- 
ed under the regime of the old school. They had seen no- 
thing, and heard little else, but the discipline of the Me- 
thodist societies as members of the national church of 
England. This was certainly small stock to begin an inde- 
pendent church government. Could they have gone to 
other independent churches in this country to obtain loans? 
The new church we are inclined to think did better with its 
old experience than it would have done with a new theory, 
for the more perfect such theory might have been, the fewer 
would have immediately understood it or knew how to re- 
duce it into practice. The only real cause of complaint 
that we have, all things considered, is, perhaps, that while 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 61 

our church rulers and legislators have remained almost as 
destitute of theory as our great founder, they possess none 
of his capacity to profit by facts. May we not safely affirm, 
that the man who was led by accident to employ lay preach- 
ers, to form classes, and many other things, in the same ac- 
cidental way, might have been led to make many accommo- 
dating changes in this independent church government in 
this new world? Yes we verily believe that the man, who 
could perceive the nature and excellence of experimental 
religion, in his fellow passengers on board a ship, and be 
thereby induced to perform a journey to Hernhurth to ac- 
quire a more perfect knowledge of it, would by this time, 
had he lived among us, have learned from the trees of the 
forest or the beasts of the field, or by some other means, 
that the freest form of church government in the United 
States, is most subservient to the interests of true religion. 
Of Dr. Coke we can say nothing, as it relates to this coun- 
try, as he cannot be considered even as a bird of passage, 
for he never stayed long enough among us at any one time 
to hatch a brood ; but we can say that we wished it, and 
sought by private entreaties and other means to effect it. 
Now concerning the father of us all — The fault of his hab- 
its rendered the fault of his nature or rather the virtue of 
his nature a fault. Mr, Wesley went over in a year a cir- 
cuit about a little island or two, and therefore he must needs 
encompass a continent. The one went from town to town, 
and therefore the other must go from wilderness to wilder- 
ness; and thus did he stretch and strain himself not only 
beyond another man's line of things but beyond all human 
bounds and measures: Such over doing ought not to be 
called imitation. There was nothing in this world he so 
much dreaded as a preacher who was not always in motion. 
The natural and unavoidable consequences of such a bound- 
less system of itinerating are, that the private members and 
class leaders know more about the internal state of a society, 
than a circuit preacher, a circuit preacher than a presiding 
elder, a presiding elder than a bishop; and that in the course 
of a few years, he that has the oversight of all, becomes an 
almost universal stranger to everything and everybody: 
but while preachers are thus deprived of leisure to theorise, 
and of opportunities to acquire practical knowledge, power 
remains stationary in their hands. The preacher gets his 
information from the leader, the presiding elder from the 
preacher, and the bishop from the presiding elder. Does 
6 



62 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

the light of knowledge suffer no deflection, no decomposi- 
tion, nor imbibe any coloring in its passage through so many 
bodies ? Does it grow clearer and finally lose all the foreign 
particles that might have been originally mixed with it ?— • 
What is spoken in the text "to the shame of majorities" 
grows out of this itinerant legislation run mad — this fatal 
segregation of knowledge from power. Presiding elders 
who have almost literally lived for four years in the wilder- 
ness, come to General Conference to legislate for thousands 
whom they never knew, and with whose condition they can 
feel no sympathy. Is it wonderful that men so situated, so 
entirely cut off from all intercourse with the great body of 
the connection, who it may be, imbibe almost all their ideas 
and impressions through those who feel an interest in all 
they speak and write on matters of discipline. Is it won- 
derful, or rather would it not be passing strange, if men so 
circumstanced could legislate for the good of the whole ! 
If the majority of the Genereal Conference could be com- 
posed of men who best knew the people and are best known 
by them, the people would still have a right to complain of 
the present mode of their election; but we do not think 
they need to fear. What our church has most to dread, is 
the ignorance of the many, and the prejudice of the few. 
To hear and see preachers brow beating and voting down 
those in General Conference, whose only aim is to curb 
power and to diffuse knowledge, as enemies to Methodism 
and innovators who aim to destroy the travelling plan, is 
very painful to our feelings. If report say true, the frontier 
preachers and some others who were opposed at the last 
General Conference to the election of presiding elders, are 
in the habit of representing the other moiety of the Gener- 
al Conference, as the common enemies of the travelling 
plan. Let those whose duty it is to see that these men be- 
have well, and to call them to account for "improper words," 
look to the consequence. Will not such grievous words 
stir up strife ? This is more like slander than argument ; it 
neither confutes nor establishes any principle. How much 
more correct would it be for the larger number of these 
strangers and pilgrims, to acknowledge, that they know next 
to nothing of such matters, that they have had neither time, 
place, nor opportunity for the acquisition of theory or prac- 
tice. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 63 

No. 3. 

Vol. i, October 12, 1821, No. xiv. page 211, 

Reflections on the History of Methodism. 

To purify a system of doctrine from all grounds and 
sources of speculative Antinomianism, and to retain the 
doctrine of justification by faith alone in the day of con- 
version — to preserve the principles of experimental religion, 
and to avoid mysticism, was a task to which none but the ge- 
nius of Wesley seems to have been fully competent. This 
extraordinary man not only exhibited a system of doctrine 
new in the above respects in its combinations and associa- 
tions, having no exact model among the writings of theo- 
logians; but he purified his society from speculative and 
practical antinomianism and from mysticism also, and by 
the aid of unordained preachers extended and enlarged it, 
and left at his death means and instruments sufficient to 
render it commensurate with the habitable earth. The se- 
paration of the Moravians, and of Mr. Whitefield and his 
followers, were critical and eventful eras in the history of 
Methodism, and presented difficulties which must have 
overwhelmed any but first rate talents for doctrine and go- 
vernment. The manner of the Moravians at that period in 
England — the number of the primitive Methodist society 
who had imbibed their smooth, easy, and quiet plan of ex- 
plaining the gospel, and reducing it to practice, when the 
hour of segregation arrived, produced a fearful diminution 
of their members, and opposed an influence diametrically 
opposite to the Wesleyan economy, which nothing but time 
and unwearied labor could overcome. On the other hand 
the advantages of Mr. Whitefield were great indeed, and 
sufficient to appall a mind of no ordinary fortitude. The 
conversion of such a colleague into a rival, for a time well 
nigh eclipsed the rising importance of Wesley and his small 
and feeble band of followers. The calvinistic form in 
which Mr. Whitefield announced his doctrines, was conge- 
nial to the opinions of a number in the establishment; to 
most of the dissenters; and to the presbyterians and con- 
gregationalists, in Scotland, Ireland, and the then provinces 
in North America. His popularity in the pulpit was unrival- 
led, and in zeal and diligence he was not a whit behind his 
indefatigable rival in doctrine himself. The wealth and the 
learning which he enlisted in his cause, enabled him to give 



64 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

a dignity and consequence to the majority of his preachers 
to vie with the clergy (as they are called) which they sel- 
dom omitted in outward appearances or intellectual exer- 
cises. Meanwhile the roots and the seeds of the decrees were 
well nigh eradicated and extracted from the Wesleyan so- 
cieties ; the ordained and unornained preachers and the 
private members began to see eye to eye and to think and 
speak the same thing. The employment of lay preachers 
(so called) in the judgment of every body but their patron 
was sufficient to ruin his cause. How desperate ! how 
mad! must the attempt have appeared, to make head 
against a kingdom of opponents with such raw and undrilled 
recruits. But the members of the establishment at length 
beheld with amazement the progress of Wesleyan Method- 
ism; they were perplexed and confounded at the ground its 
intrepid leader had taken in renouncing all affinity to sece- 
derSj and proclaiming himself and his proselytes as mem- 
bers of the national church. It is our business said he not to 
show how fallen the church is, but how fallen its members 
themselves are. The days of persecution had gone by; in 
tain did the zealous members of the establishment exert all 
their learning and ingenuity to free the body and the branches 
of the church from this parasitical plant, as they considered 
Methodism, and prevent it from twining around its trunk 
and feeding upon its substance. What could be done with 
men who would neither expatriate nor unchurch themselves 
in order to become religious ? The sword had grown rusty in 
its scabbard, and could not be withdrawn; with them ridi- 
cule was no test of truth; and as far as arguments are con- 
cerned, they took the liberty to judge that the advantage was 
on their side. Any attempt to out do them in zeal was ut- 
terly hopeless. To buy them in, was equally out of the 
question, for, if a price could have been bidden for their 
preachers, there was no place to employ them. The unor- 
dained preachers, with fewer exceptions than might have 
been expected, maintained themselves in the confidence 
and affection of their patron and of the societies. An un- 
usual number of them lived to a good old age, and died in 
the fulness of faith and hope. The government of their 
chief was patriarchal and monaichial; his ruling maxim 
was, "if you do not help me as I direct, you shall not help 
me at all;" but these directions were early reduced to the 
form of written laws or statutes. He divided the preachers 
into assistants and helpers; the former of whom were the 



gfffif HEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 65 

executive, and the latter graduates. All met together once 
a year in conference, and were organized as a deliberative 
body. The assistants were all equal among themselves, 
there was no room therefore for any strife among them who 
should be the greatest. 

One hundred of these assistants were named in Mr. 
Wesley's will, as the conference; and on them and their 
successors the government and the property of the connex- 
ion devolved. Among the missionaries to this country, 
there was a general assistant who had the power of a le- 
gate or lieutenant; but the rest were neither remarkable for 
their subordination, nor for the caution and delicacy of their 
expressions of opinion. It was in this country, that the 
preachers first began to meet in separate conferences, and 
the custom is still maintained. This to be sure was a ne- 
cessary evil, which we may deplore but cannot remedy. An 
itinerant executive moving from conference to conference, 
possesses means of managing and controlling, which Mr. 
Wesley never possessed, and which no man, who like him 
always meets the same men all together, can ever possess.. 
For some years these annual conferences possessed legisla- 
tive power, and could be increased or diminished at the 
pleasure of the executive, who also had a control over the 
length of the time of their sitting. It was during this pecu- 
liar economy that presiding elders came into existence 
among us, but the precise time and manner of their origin 
seems to be involved in some obscurity. The rise of this 
order first destroyed the equality among the assistants, and 
placed the executive head at such a distance from them, that 
they could have no immediate access to it — communica- 
tions were thenceforward to be made and received through 
those ministers. An attempt to convert a certain number 
of these officers into a legislative council, led to a General 
Conference, and this in turn to a delegated conference. It 
must be apparent to every observer, that our affairs were 
managed differently from those of the English connexion 
during the life time of Mr. Wesley. A bishop among us at 
this present time, though the legislative power is taken from 
the annual conferences, can render them subservient to al- 
most any purpose his ambition and ingenuity may devise. 
He may oppose the influence of the annual conferences 
to the General Conference, and thus produce compliance 
in the latter. He may so construe the laws as by a vote of 
the annual conferences to change their original destina- 
6* 



66 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

tion or render them null and void, &c. &c. What a fruitful 
source of reflection does the following contrasts furnish. In 
this country for a length of time, several separate bodies of 
preachers made laws for the whole community with no 
other means of correspondence than the executive volun- 
tarily furnished them. In England all the assistants sat to- 
gether in conference on a footing of equality, and Mr. 
Wesley was immediately accessible to them all; he had no 
irresponsible privy council to play at "Boo peep, or hide and 
go seek," and such like pranks of power. But among us, 
elders must have presiding elders, over whom they have no 
control, betwixt them and their bishop. Does this part of 
our history contribute in any measure to throw light upon 
the interesting question which has been so often asked. 
How was it possible that a collossal power calculated to fill 
a contemplative mind with wonder should establish itself 
among a people so naturally jealous of civil and religious 
liberty as Americans are known to be ? 

We have already hinted at the uncommon weight of age 
and experience in the British connexion. It must have 
been a sight as interesting as novel, to have seen the vener- 
able Wesley at the age of fourscore, surrounded in confer- 
ence by numbers in advance of sixty and seventy. Those 
were the first fruits of unordained preachers. In this coun- 
try it was far otherwise ; causes had conspired to produce 
strange changes. At the age of seventy Mr. Asbury could 
scarcely recognize half a dozen of the primitive Amercan 
preachers in the conferences. Poverty and location had 
anticipated death, and not a few were ministerially dead 
while they lived. Rapid changes and a succession of young 
men have contributed to unsettle the affections and foster 
the spirit of novelty among us in a degree unknown in any 
other church. Another point of contrast between the two 
connexions worthy of notice is, our ministerial fruitfulness 
has been mostly in numbers — theirs in talent. 

It is not for us to know the times and the seasons or to 
forsee events; but when rumors of discontent are heard 
from some and the apprehension of divison from others, par- 
ticularly the latter, they call forth and they fix our attention 
upon the interesting subject of the means best calculated to 
secure union and church rights. We do not think that di- 
visions are never justifiable ; on the contrary, we believe 
they are always so from professed churches which become 
persecuters. The voice of God ever calls his people to 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 67 

come out of bloody Babylon. Other cases might perhaps 
be pointed out; but it is deserving of the most serious re- 
gard, that division, though the first remedy that generally 
suggests itself to those who think themselves aggrieved in 
a religious community, is a remedy greatly to be distrusted. 
It is a means not only liable to great abuse, but may prove 
infinitely dangerous to those who have recourse to it. The 
history of those divisions which became necessary from im- 
perious circumstances, proves the dangers and difficulties 
to which they expose those who participate in them. A 
signal of division never fails to call forth and place in mar- 
shal array all the most hurtful passions of the human heart. 
The example of Wesley shews what may be done under 
the protection of the civil laws, or while the demon of per- 
secution is in chains as among ourselves, without having 
recourse to division. And can any human example recom- 
mend itself more strongly to us than his ? The first thing 
that must strike us all in his religious movements is, that his 
religion had no passion, and his success abundantly demon- 
strates that passion is by no means necessary to success in 
religious undertaking. It seems to us to be beyond all 
doubt, that it is fully in the power of our church, if it should 
be so disposed, to reclaim and secure to itself any right or 
privilege which is now exclusively in the hands of the tra- 
velling preachers, without having recourse to the spirit or 
practice of division ; and of course without passion, and 
also without violating any law or exposing itself to the pe- 
nalties of any one that the General Conference can enforce. 

Philo Pisticus. 



No. 4. 

Wesleyan Repository vol. i. October 25, 1821. No. xv. page 248. 

The present slate of things. 

It was a singular and perhaps a providential circumstance, 
that the General Conference was equally divided on the mo- 
tion to suspend "the reconciliation" for four years. An event 
so unlikly on so momentous a question, was certainly well 
calculated to teach moderation to both parties; but so it seem- 
ed not to the managing spirits. The alarum was sounded, 
the constitution is violated — and forty-five votes were pledg- 
ed beyond the doors of the conference and redeemed within 



68 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

them — thus was the conciliatory propositions of the second 
bishop; the solemn agreement of a committee of equal 
numbers from both sides ; the votes of more than two-thirds 
of the General Conference; the expression of satisfaction 
and tears of joy, &c. all thrown to the winds : and the 
peace and harmony of the preachers, if not their final union, 
put in jeopardy for the sake of gaining four years to elec- 
tioneer through the annual conferences. Scarcely had the 
preachers returned to their circuits, before it began to be 
rumored that the motives and the moral integrity of one-half 
the travelling preachers, or at least of their representatives 
was questionable. The friends of the sole power of the bish- 
ops to choose presiding elders, whispered about (as we hear) 
that the preachers in the north and east, and a certain number 
in the Baltimore Conference, aimed to destroy the itinerancy 
and introduce Congregationalism, &,c. We may just remark 
in passing that our plan, and the congregational plan, are 
the two extremes in church government. In ours, all the 
power is in the hands of the bishops and preachers — in 
theirs, in the people. If we must believe those preachers 
to be sincere who can propagate such suspicions against 
their brethren, we cannot believe that their understandings 
are equal to their sincerity. How terrible must the imagina- 
tions of men be alarmed by fears, who in despite of every 
evidence which the nature of the case can furnish, conjure 
up images of the most extreme ideal danger. If they really 
believed that those preachers aim at more than they profess, 
why not believe that they aim at some modification of our 
episcopacy. Men who were contending for their rights, when 
they gave up principles, dear to every iover of religious lib- 
erty, should have been promptly met by those who were re- 
quired to give up almost nothing; but all terms are not 
only refused them ; their honesty and veracity is held up in 
their absence in more than doubtful character. Those who 
think they do God service by propagating their own suspi- 
cions against their brethren, may remain blind to the con- 
sequences, but to us who take no part in this election cam- 
paign of four years long, and have no immediate interests 
in the issue, it is plain that they are making a schism among 
travelling preachers, and are using the very means to ren- 
der it incurable. Who can have any confidence in any 
proposed plans of reconciliation, who remembers what was 
the fate of that of 1820? It was an awful and portentous 
hour that fixed the character of "truce breakers" upon for- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 69 

ty-five members of the General Conference. But though 
the present mode of proceeding is calculated to destroy all 
our hopes of a restoration of mutual confidence among 
travelling preachers, yet, in our opinion, the spell which had 
suspended free inquiry is dissolved forever, and every year 
will give rise to new doubts respecting the wisdom of the 
organization of our hierarchy. But whoever may have the 
majority in the next General Conference, we think it can 
easily be forseen, that the people will not be suffered to re- 
main neutral, for, though they will not be permitted to touch 
the hem of the garments of the powers that be, they will add 
too much to the pomp and grace of the triumph to be left 
out of the train. 

The probability is, that there will be no reconciliation 
among the preachers at the next General Conference. We 
may calculate therefore, that the defeated party will come 
among us, not like the conquered bull in the fable among 
the frogs in the marsh, to tread us to death, but to seek our 
sympathy. In such an event, the members of the church 
will no longer have to tell the story of their complaints to 
a deaf man. On some future occasion we may essay some- 
thing in the form of a memorial by way of anticipation. 
In the meanwhile we think it very advisable that brethren 
should be wary of taking sides with those of any party who 
are contending for themselves, and for themselves only. 

P. P. 



No. 5. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. i. November 22, 1821, No. xvii. page 278. 

The state of our affairs. 

Patch work is very pretty in bed quilts, and divers other 
kinds of furniture ; out in matters touching the rights of 
the church, it has somewhat of a disagreeable effect. In 
looking over our "articles of religion," we find that "the 
visible church of Christ' 5 is a "congregation of faithful 
men;" and that "every particular church may ordain, 
change, or abolish, rites and ceremonies, &c." The Me- 
thodists, in the United States, are a congregation (it is to 
be hoped) of faithful men ; may they by themselves, or their 
representatives, ordain, change, or abolish, any rights or 
ceremonies? Have they ever had the power, or the privi- 



70 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

lege to do such things, under any existing principle, con- 
stitution, law, or rule among us? What would be the con- 
sequence, if this congregation of faithful men (not of 
preachers) should proceed to act upon the 22nd article, but 
"so that nothing should be ordained against God's word?" 
A certain writer by the name of King, convinced Mr. 
Wesley, by some account of the primitive church, that 
bishops and presbyters were so nearly alike, that the latter 
might ordain the former: but Mr. Wesley's letters did not 
convince Mr. Asbury of his right to be ordained, before a 
certain number of preachers should elect him, and when 
this was done, he was convinced, that he, and all his suc- 
cessors, so elected, had a right to oversee the spiritual and 
temporal affairs of the church, and to exercise all other 
rights of sovereignty, without the interference of laymen, 
to the end of time. The convincements of those apostolic 
men, in these instances, were in unusually small parcels. 
Where were the congregations of faithful men all this while, 
who may ordain rites; and of course their own rights ? 
Is it not a pity, that Mr. King, or somebody else, could 
have convinced the venerable presbyter of the church of 
England, that there was some body else in the primitive 
church besides bishops and elders, and some other rights, 
also, besides the right of ordination ? And is it not still 
more to be lamented, that Mr. Asbury who refused to be 
ordained under the authority of Mr. Wesley, without the 
suffrages of American Methodist preachers, had not taken 
other liberties with the authority of his venerated principal, 
and considered the right of suffrage beyond the narrow lim- 
its of a conference; but the collection of preachers in 
Lovely Lane, was all the world to him, and he to them. 
These shreds and patches of conviction, when they were 
all put together, served only like Joseph's coat, to betray 
the impartial affections. ''The diversity of countries, times, 
and men's manners," which the article says may authorise 
changes; did not appear sufficient in the judgment of this 
assembly of American preachers, though citizens, to au- 
thorise them to make any provision for the religious rights 
of their countrymen ; though but a year or two before ac- 
knowledged by the king of Great Britain, &c. as a free, 
sovereign, and independent people. The church — the 
congregation of faithful men — the Methodists, were left as 
utterly destitute of every principle of religious liberty, as it 
was possible for them to be. No period of time, no accu- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 71 

mulation of members, no future of circumstances were an- 
ticipated, which might lead to a representative legislature, 
or the intervention of the voice of the church, directly, or 
indirectly, in ordaining, changing, or abolishing, rites and 
ceremonies, &c. &c. As it respected the want of power, 
the church remained in statu quo until 1800, when an at- 
tempt was made to give its members the right to be judged 
by their peers. This bill, after being detained in the Gen- 
eral Conference, in order to attach a tail, or supplementary 
clause to it, by which the preacher might move the cause 
to the quarterly meeting conference, by way of appeal, if 
he did not approve of the decision of the jury, finally pass- 
ed. In 1808 the state of our affairs became like the laws 
of the Medes and Persians, which alter not. Several of 
our worthy, and aged preachers sighed in heart felt con- 
cern over the danger to which the church was liable, of 
having new terms of communion imposed upon her, by the 
unlimited power of the General Conference ; and a consti- 
tution was got up, by which, the rights of trial, and appeal, 
of our members, was secured as with a chain of adamant, 
as will appear from the following extract. "Neither shall 
they (the General Conferences) do away the privilege of our 
members of trial before the society, or a committee, and of 
an appeal. Provided, nevertheless, that upon the joint re- 
commendation of all the annual conferences, the majority 
of two-thirds of the General Conference succeeding, shall 
suffice to alter any of the above restrictions :" and what 
would our members do then ! The gravity with which these 
matters are put forth into the world, and addressed to the 
members of the church, prove, if other proofs were want- 
ing, that our divine, and inherent, and ex officio legislature, 
are unimpeachable on the score of sincerity. "Far from 
wishing you," say the bishops, "to be ignorant of any part 
of our discipline, we desire you to read, mark, learn, and 
inwardly digest the whole." Unreasonable desire ; rather 
leave us in happy ignorance; let us know nothing, that we 
may fear nothing. How is it possible for an American 
stomach, after reading, marking and learning the contents 
of the book of discipline, to digest it? Is there one jot or 
tittle of the pabulum of ecclesiastical liberty to be found in 
its pages ? In what religious society or church in the whole 
world, or in the records of history, can an example of a more 
systematic exclusion of private members from all participa- 
tion in social and religious rights be found ? O ! ye who have 



72 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

bound our wills as fast as fate, in your wisdom and good- 
ness you took it upon yourselves gratuitously to make a 
constitution, as you call it, and as if to hold us up to the 
ridicule of every body, you make a proviso, that a certain 
number of you must agree upon the measure, before you 
will do away the privileges of your members. Did you 
never know a body of preachers called clergymen, who 
could agree to the full proportional amount mentioned in 
your proviso, to do away, and to keep away, the privileges 
of the people ? How could you lose the recollection of the 
great practical maxims of the school of freedom, in which 
you have been educated, that tyranny consists in undivi- 
ded, unlimited, and uncontrollable power, in the hands of 
any number of men, as well as in the hand of a single in- 
dividual. As preachers, you have one set of interests, and 
we as members of the church, have another. What sym- 
pathy can a thousand of you, any more than one, feel in 
our privation, when all the power you abstract from us, you 
add to yourselves? 

The body of faithful men, who are not travelling preach- 
ers, in the present state of our affairs, are mere cyphers, 
entirely passive to legislative control ; and if the members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, should 
amount to as many millions as they do now to thousands, 
the unlimited prerogative of the General Conference would 
still exist, and must remain forever, all the talk in the 2*2nd 
article to the contrary notwithstanding. The whole con- 
sequence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, consists in 
having the word of God preached, and the sacraments ad- 
ministered in it; but if the preachers should agree to intro- 
duce "transubstantiation" and "deny the cup to the. lay peo- 
ple" no provision is made for "the lay people" to help 
themselves. Was this tautology "the lay people" placed 
in the 19th article by an oversight? or is it a vestige of 
Romish, or reformed barbarism, squinting towards a conve- 
nient introduction in due time of "the clergy and the laity ;" 
but this by the by. The state of our affairs in theory, and 
in practice, is plainly, as here set forth, without any incli- 
nation, or intention to exaggerate, or extenuate it. We 
have no legislative power; but have we, therefore, no legis- 
lative rights ? As men, and as christians, our rights may be 
neglected by ourselves, or suspended by others; but they 
can never be destroyed, while the New Testament of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ remains. If so, are we not 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 73 

bound in conscience to separate and reduce our rights into 
practice ? We say not so ! Observe if all the members of 
the church were determined to exercise their rights, there 
could be no division, no separation; but if an hundred, or 
a thousand, or any other number, do separate, they dissolve 
their social and religious relation to all that remain, and of 
course from that time the members of the church cannot 
view them in any other light than any other separate socie- 
ty or church. Men who are resolved to be so selfish, as to 
regard only their own rights, may and will do as they please ; 
but those who feel the social ties, and act from principle, 
will consult the rights and interest of the whole church. 
It is owing to the existence and influence of this generous, 
and liberal feeling, that we find among the greatest and 
best of the reformers, so much reluctance to separate ; so 
many attempts to conciliate, even in cases vitally affecting 
matters of doctrine and conscience. They foresaw, that 
from the time they should take an independent stand, an 
offensive, and defensive war, must commence. The 
friends, and advocates of the rights of the church, who still 
remain in fellowship, can view those who have separated 
even on the same account, rather as deserters from the 
common cause, than as friends: and, indeed it is evident, 
that in so far as the influence of the principles of liberty 
depend upon their progress, and the accumulation of mem- 
bers in a community, the separation of its professed friends 
may be injurious to its final prevalence. But in two of the in- 
stances at least, in which separations have taken place, we 
know that the separatists were not in the first instance, 
even professedly guided by principle ; the leaders were ac- 
tuated by personal motives and considerations. The after 
thoughts of such men, however correct they may be, can- 
not be viewed in any other light, than as the result of ne- 
cessity ; in heart they must appear selfish. We have 
another, and still stronger reason in the present state of 
things, against separating in order to secure an immediate 
exercise of personal rights, and that is, the interest of ex- 
perimental religion, which in party contention, and the spirit 
of proselytism, that is almost unavoidable in such an event, 
is generally neglected, if not directly injured. Instead, 
therefore, of giving occasion to the friends of the exclusive 
power of the preachers, to say, that a discussion of princi- 
ples leads to divisions, the members of the church, by their 
union, and perseverance, should excite very different fears 
7 



74 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

— fears, that by their union and perseverance, they must 
finally succeed in securing their rights. Though we have 
no more doubt of the sincerity of most of the travelling 
preachers, than we have of our own — though we are per- 
suaded, that they think, they render to God a most essen- 
tial service, by holding the power to legislate exclusively 
for the church; yet we cannot persuade ourselves to be- 
lieve, but, that, if they ever come to find, that a large majority 
of the people, will to exercise their own rights, that it must 
lead to inquiry, and of course, to a considerable change of 
opinion. At this moment, it is more than probable, that 
the ignorance, or inattention of the members of the church, 
to the true principles of ecclesiastical legislation, has a 
paralyzing influence on no inconsiderable number of the 
preachers. The disposition to help those, who help them- 
selves, is as universal, as any other. What would be the 
consequence, if we should leave the interests of our souls, 
as much to the preachers, as we do the law making power 
in the church? Our own watchfulness, is quite consistent 
with their watching over our interests. We must give an 
account for ourselves, as well as they for us. How do those 
christians answer for it, who suffered, or assisted, their 
preachers to gain, and secure to themselves, anciently, those 
unlimited prerogatives, which we believe, that they have so 
shamefully abused. If our judgments are not made up, 
we can think, and examine, and judge for ourselves while 
in membership ; and if they are, we can do abundantly more 
towards instructing our brethren, than by separating from 
them. We are bound then, by the love of religious liberty, 
as much as by the love of the brethren, not to separate, and 
we cannot be driven away, or excommunicated yet awhile, 
as long as we walk worthy of the gospel. The time is not 
yet come, to make a man an offender for a word, or to hang 
him for his thoughts. We want to make proselytes to prin- 
ciple, to continue in the church, not to forsake it. 

Adynasius. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 75 

No. 6. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. i. December 20,1321, No. xviii.page 289. 

On Church Freedom. 

"If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." 

We do not remember to have seen a discourse on this 
explicit declaration of the origin, and positive nature of re- 
legious freedom, in which its social, as well as individual 
bearing is brought fairly into view. The commentators and 
the preachers mostly treat of it in reference to experimen- 
tal religion, as a freedom from the guilt, the power, and the 
principles of sin ; and it is certain, that he who is under the 
power of either of these, is not morally or religiously free 
indeed. Upon this plan the nature of church freedom is 
seldom brought under consideration ; but the difference be- 
tween private and social freedom is of importance, and in- 
volves consequences of the most interesting nature. If, as 
is generally believed, Jesus Christ intended that his disciples 
and followers should exist together in a social state as fellow 
subjects of his kingdom, or members of his church, we can- 
not forbear the inquiry, whether he meant that they should 
be socially free indeed, or whether they should pass under 
the yoke to ecclesiastical masters. As such masters are 
not fond to be called by their right names, it is probable 
that no one will be forward to assert, that this latter condi- 
tion of the church, is agreeable to the will of its founder. 
Should any one, however, be found bold enough to attempt 
to father either the principles, or the practices of leligious 
bondage in the church, upon the authority of Jesus Christ, 
we hold that he may be effectually refuted by these words, 
"If the son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed," 
for they imply no doubt of his readiness and willingness to 
make us free ; but of our acceptance of his glorious and 
substantial freedom. Let us enquire into the nature of 
church freedom, as distinct from personal and civil freedom, 
for it is evident that neither of the latter necessarily involve 
the former. The very essence of church freedom, consists 
in having a voice personally, or by our representatives, in 
and over the laws by which we are to be governed, and in 
being judged by our peers. If one man or any set of men, 
who have no dependence upon the church or legislative re- 
sponsibility to it, may or can make its laws, it has not the 
shadow of freedom any more than the substance ; all church 



76 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

powers and privileges are thus cut off at their fountain head. 
Nor would the church be at all benefited, if the by-laws 
and written forms were dispensed with, and all church pro- 
ceedings referred to the letter of the New Testament, if men 
of the same irresponsibility were to be interpreters and ex- 
ecutors of the sacred authority; the danger on the contra- 
ry would be increased, as without precedents they might 
add caprice to injustice. It is certain, that the letter of no 
institution can execute itself, and it would be an idle waste 
of time to attempt to prove that implicit confidence in men 
with absolute power, is utterly fallacious. There is not a 
a man living, who can foresee how power will effect him be- 
fore he make the trial, and it is well known how often the 
most sagacious judges of human nature, are disappointed 
in their anticipations of religious as well as civil officers. 
Judges of courts of justice, who are made as independent 
as possible of other branches of civil government, are only 
appointed during good behaviour, but such a latitude is 
found to be by no means safe in the office of law makers ; 
those who are invested with the legislative authority in free 
communities, are held under the perpetual responsibility of 
periodical elections. The priestcraft of which we have heard 
reiterated complaints, is nothing more than a modification 
of human ambition, or a vice of nature converted into a 
vice of office. It is seldom if ever, that we find on the 
pages of ecclesiastical history, a fair and correct develope- 
ment of the principles of social freedom. The struggle be- 
tween the great contending parties, when the priesthood 
was concerned, was, who should be the greatest, not how 
powers should be equalized and balanced. When violence 
and force were resorted to, it was natural, and indeed una- 
voidable, for the weaker party to have recourse to artifice. 
The boasted advantages of separating the church from the 
state, are neutralized to the members of the latter; if there 
is no balance of power between them and their officers; and 
it may also happen, that their condition may be thus chang- 
ed for the worse ; as the political power may have an inter- 
est in protecting the church from the unlimited influence of 
the priesthood, though it must be confessed that they have 
most frequently combined their force, and made the peo- 
ple a common prey. We do not profess to be competent 
judges of the actual state of religious freedom among other 
denominations in our country, but if we may trust to ap- 
pearances we should be led to conjecture, that in some in* 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 77 

stances, where the greatest zeal for liberty is expressed, the 
check giving principles are either not well understood or 
steadily carried into practical operation. The reformers 
themselves seem not to have understood the principles of 
church freedom as well as the founders of our republic did 
those of civil freedom. Though nothing can be more hos- 
tile to our views and feelings than a union of church and 
state, yet as human nature is the same, and, like gravity, 
acts by uniform laws, we are fully persuaded that any means 
which are found, on experiment, sufficient to check and 
control the natural ambition of the human heart in one 
case, has strong claims to our attention in the other. As 
the American doctrine, that tyranny consists in undivided 
power being in the same hands, is as fully demonstrated by 
the priestcraft of ecclesiastical history, as the kingcraft and 
aristocratical policy of civil history, why may not the con- 
verse of the case hold true. Men who have the same in- 
terests will be prone to act alike ; and as long as they per- 
ceive that their interests are mutual, they will act together. 
It would be a miracle, that is, an event contrary to the course 
of nature, if either priests or preachers, with the legislative 
and executive power of the church in their own hands, 
should not manage the interests of others, so as to promote 
their own. The security of a church against the tyranny 
of its own officers is out of the question, so long as its 
members remain ignorant of, or inattentive to those consti- 
tutional principles, on whose reaction the health of social, 
as well as natural bodies depend. The causes and effects 
of a fever in the human body are in many points analogous 
to tyranny in the body social. Both proceed from some de- 
rangement in the parts and powers of the system, and both 
by an excess of circulation to the head, if not corrected, 
eventuate in death. Ambition, as we have said, is like gra- 
vity, and can only be overcome by opposing force to force, 
and resistance to resistance. If the interests of the church 
could be placed upon one end of a beam or lever, and 
the interests of priests or preachers at the other, though 
the former might be much the more weighty, yet the balan- 
cing of the two would not depend upon that circumstance, 
but upon the position of the rest or fulcrum. There is not, 
nor can there be, a form of religious government devised, 
that may not become tyrannical by deranging the balance 
of power; and this we conceive to be the reason why the 
scriptures are so silent upon the forms and modes of church 
V 



78 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

government, and also why so little has been gained by chang- 
ing its modes and names, in order to bring it more near to 
the scripture plan. The eagerness with which some men 
search for precedents of religious governments, seems to 
us to be of no more importance than that of a mechanic, who 
ransacks every country, in order to find models for steel- 
yards, or should prefer the ancient Roman one to any other. 
No model would be of any use, if he should not know 
how to construct this kind of balance scientifically, or by ex- 
periment. The tenacity with which the different denomi- 
nations cleave to their different modes of goverment on ac~ 
count of their supposed conformity to the primitive church 
government, betrays a want of science and a neglect of ex- 
periment. Among the churches which have adopted the 
episcopal form, there are no two who have given the same 
division of power to their episcopal officers; and an inde- 
finite number more might differ among themselves, and from 
all the rest. The same thing might happen to a presbyte- 
rian, or congregational, or any form of government, and 
probably has happened. If any one will prove to us that 
the primitive church was not free indeed, we can prove that 
it is no precedent for us, and that in this respect we ought 
not to follow its example. Any government which is found- 
ed on principles, which secure to the preachers and the 
members of the church their mutual rights and privileges, 
is scriptural enough for our faith and practice. Is it not 
remarkable that the American people who have a govern- 
ment sui generis of their own originating and making, 
should be so tenacious of the religious polity of the Euro- 
pean churches from which their ancestors sprung ? Could 
this difference in the influence of the prejudice of educa- 
cation have existed, if the principles of religious government 
were as well understood as those of civil liberty ? We are in- 
clined to think that much of the asperity which exists among 
different sects, is to be traced to the want of some guiding 
and directing principle, which though it might direct men 
through different roads, could hardly fail, if steadily follow- 
ed, to conduct them to the same end. Our church which 
has neither legislative voice nor will, with the millstone of 
the absolute power of the preachers about her neck, can 
never see the pleasant light, or breathe the vital air of free- 
dom. The waves and billows of despotic government must 
roll eternally over her head, unless by some means she can 
extricate herself from this dead weight. 

Adynasius. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 79 

TSo. 7. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. i. December 20th, 1821, No. xix. page 299. 

Methodist History — Letters to a Young Preacher, No, II. 

My dear young friend : 

In every collection of men, who exist in community, or 
social relation, all the diversity of the human character may 
be expected to disclose itself, and some leading principle, 
either by art or accident, to modify and direct the whole. 
As the young men began to be advanced to the executive 
offices, it was interesting to observe, how the influence of 
power operated upon the minds of some, in transforming 
the simple loving brother into a man of consequence; and 
how the presiding genius selected and moulded the subor- 
dinate agents and ministers of discipline. Though nothing, 
or next to nothing, was attempted in a way of instruction, 
so as to make the elder preachers the teachers of the young- 
er ones ; yet no preacher of any grade or station was ever left 
a day without a superior. The principles and the germs of 
a hierarchy were thus incorporated in the very foundation 
of our primitive existence. Instances are not wanting, in 
our recollection of early times, of high handed measures 
over inferior preachers and societies, which would not now 
be attempted, and if attempted, not submitted to; such as sus- 
pending preachers, and tearing class papers, &c. The dicta- 
torial manner in which some of these seconds and thirds in 
command ruled, furnishes melancholy evidence of the ten- 
dency of undefined power to supplant brotherly love" ; and 
proves undeniably, that in our church there is no place to 
extol the primitive liberties. The choice of all executive men 
was then, as now, exclusively in the hands of the supreme 
head. The principles of the hierarchy, as they were con- 
stituted in 1784, were, with a steady and undeviating hand, 
carried into practice, and guarded with the utmost vigilance. 
The primitive Methodist preachers transmitted to us what 
they themselves possessed, with the single exception of 
trying and excluding members without the judgment of the 
church. They had the legislative and executive power 
solely in their own hands. I trust you will agree with me, 
that more learning and less power would have been better 
for them, better adapted to the genius of the American peo- 
ple, and to the prosperity and happiness of the church. But 
you will bear in mind, that in those times the principles of 
7- 



80 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

social freedom were seldom the subject of patient closet 
investigation, where alone they can be fairly investigated ; and 
that there was no ground for those to stand upon, who un- 
derstood them, (if such there were) from which they could 
propagate them among the preachers or the people. The 
disastrous division in Virginia savored more at first of a 
strife for the mastery than a fair and correct discussion of 
social rights. The leader of it, while a presiding elder, was 
considered among the most rigid of that class of officers; 
and like most men of irascible tempers, and indistinct 
views, in the progress of his struggles and disappoint- 
ments, seems to have yielded himself up to the influence 
of the most desperate prejudices. There was a crisis in 
the public mind, which I cannot but think, that if he had 
possessed a head sufficiently clear, to have seized upon, 
and held up to the view of the people the true principles of 
social liberty, would have insured him success. This chap- 
ter in our earlier history ought to be an everlasting monu- 
ment to warn all of the danger of building, or attempting 
to support, a church upon any but the broadest foundation 
of the abstract principles of social rights. It is only when 
they are generally and correctly understood, that the ambi- 
tion of half-informed little masters can be effectually re- 
pressed, and the people kept contented under the influence 
of discipline. 

In attempting to give you some idea of individuals, I may 
not omit the peculiar characteristics of some of the Eng- 
lish preachers. Mr. Rankin was a pattern of neatness 
and preciseness in the minutiae of manners; and was equal- 
ly attentive to the manners of others. Every day his large 
white wig was carefully adjusted and powdered, and every 
particle of dust and down carefully brushed from his clothes. 
A young American preacher sitting in a lolling posture at 
table with his chair leaning back, Mr. Rankin rose, and in 
the presence of the company adjusted the chair, and the 
position of the occupant, adding at the same time a suita- 
ble admonition, &c. Mr. Asbury considered Mr. Rankin 
in the light of an opponent, and it is certain, that if there 
were any dependence to be placed in the correspondence 
of his English friend, Mr. Rankin did use all his influence 
with Mr. Wesley to have him recalled. Mr. Asbury was 
informed, that when the news arrived, that Mr. Wesley's 
name was left off the American minutes, Mr. Rankin who 
was present, without waiting for the evidence, exclaimed, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 81 

"That's Frank Asbury's doings," &c. It is due to the 
memory of Mr. Rankin to say, that during his short stay in 
this country he conciliated the affections of several of the 
preachers, if not all. 

Mr. Whatcoat, though among the last in the order of time, 
was not among the least. " His life," as a pious young lady 
used to say, who was competent to judge, "was like an even 
spun thread." He had a second suit of natural hair, which 
did not grow grey till late in life, and he never lost entirely 
his European color, his features were small, and his coun- 
tenance smooth and placid. In his neat, plain, parson's 
grey, after returning from the devotions of the closet, a 
painter or a statuary might have taken him as a model for a 
representation of piety. The mild, the complacent, and 
the dignified, were so happily blended in his looks, as to 
fill the beholder with reverence and love. His speech was 
somewhat slow and drawling; but not disagreeable after a 
little; his excellent matter came so warm from the heart, 
that a genial spirit of devotion never failed to kindle and 
blaze afresh, under its sounds, his very appearance in the 
pulpit did his hearers good. His arrangement and expres- 
sion were uncommonly clear and perspicuous. He preach- 
ed more frequently from the Old Testament than any 
preacher I ever remember to have heard. It was delightful 
to hear him in his best mood upon, "But the word of the 
Lord is not bound" — never was the truth of an assertion 
more fully verified by the hearer's feelings. But above all, 
pre-eminent, as a star of the first magnitude, shone Francis 
Asbury. In him were concentrated the directing mind and 
the animating soul, necessary to direct and move the whole 
body. Had he comprehended the principles of social free- 
dom, as well as he did those of the gospel, and have di- 
rected the mighty energies of his mind to make the preach- 
ers as studious as laborious, to what a pitch of greatness 
would this one man have raised the Methodist cause in this 
country ! There was one point in which this chief man in 
our Israel challenges universal admiration, and that was 
the impulse which he gave to experimental and practical 
religion. It is impossible for the most able of his admirers 
to convey, to those who knew not the man, and his com- 
munication, any adequate conception of his virtue inspir- 
ing and virtue animating influence over the minds of the 
preachers. I do think, that the whole of ecclesiastical 
history may be challenged, to produce so many men brought 



82 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

together in so short a time, without the benefit of any previ- 
ous regular religious education, whose lives and conversation 
were generally more becoming the gospel. A few instan- 
ces of those who were converted from notoriously wicked 
courses becoming preachers, and a still fewer number of 
apostates, have induced some, whose learning and standing 
in society ought to have secured them from such mistaken 
conceptions, to hold up the Methodist preachers as a mere 
reprobate race; whereas, as I have said in a former letter, 
the great proportion of the primitive preachers, especially 
natives of this country, were young men, the fruit of revi- 
vals, but little practiced in the schools of vice. On a certain 
occasion, while the work was so rapidly progressing in the 
east, as to call an unusual number of preachers in that 
quarter, Mr. Asbury, in allusion to the character and num- 
ber of the missionaries, and the natural inquisitiveness of 
the eastern people, exclaimed, while preaching before the 
conference, " I wonder where all these young men come 
from, riding good horses, with watches in their pockets." 
A few of our countrymen who first turned out in the minis- 
try, are yet living, and on that account it will be as unne- 
cessary as improper to speak of them on this occasion. I 
am quite disposed, also, to tread lightly on the ashes of the 
dead, by inclination as well as principle. Of not a few of 
those who sleep with our fathers, it is in the power of no 
writer to say much more, than that they lived well, and died 
well. Modest and retired souls, who sought and found all 
their praise and recompense in heaven. With constant 
affection. I remain yours, 

SENEX. 



No. 8. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. i. January 3, 1822, No. xx. page 325. 

Adynasius to the Querist and his friends. 

The Querist, and his friends, may rest assured, that Ady- 
nasius is neither a separatist, nor a revolutionist. In his 
second number, entitled "Church freedom," he has fully ex- 
pressed his views and aims. His only desire is to see a 
a practical exemplification in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of a balanced government, that shall give equal se- 
curity to the preachers, and private membership ; but he is 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 83 

persuaded, that this can never be done, as long as the le- 
gislative power is exclusively in the hands of the preachers. 
Adynasius begs leave to ask the strenuous advocates for the 
present order of things, who are so tremblingly alive to the 
danger of entrusting legislative power in the hands of the 
church, whether the legislative power though nominally in 
the General Conference, is really in the bishops ? And if 
not, why it is, that they are not as jealous of the preachers, 
as of the membership? The bishops are the centre and 
source of all executive authority. The name of every tra- 
velling preacher in the connection is on the point of their 
pens, and they may write them to what place they please. 
The oldest elder and presiding elder they may place under 
the youngest elder, and indeed there is no rule to prevent 
bishops from giving the charge of a circuit, or a station, to 
unordained preachers. It is not only in the power of bish- 
ops to deprive elders of all executive agency ; but also to 
oblige them to locate. They can appoint them under the 
greatest family embarrassments, without friends, or credit, 
to a circuit which cannot support a single preacher, and 
subject them to a long and expensive journey without 
any means to defray the expenses, &c. and yet with 
all this power over the preachers, the most zealous advo- 
cates of these prerogatives are not afraid to confide the 
bishops to the legislative power of those very preachers, 
without any legal check to prevent them from curtailing 
their authority ; but as soon as it is hinted, that the mem- 
bers of the church ought, in right, to participate in the law 
making power, it is apprehended that the very existence 
and name of episcopacy will be placed in jeopardy. But 
by a disinterested and unprejudiced logician would not a 
different inference be made ? Would it not seem to him that 
as the preachers have the most immediate cause of fear from 
the executive power of the Episcopacy, so the latter would 
have most to fear from the former. Either the fears of di- 
vision, and revolution from giving legislative power to the 
church are groundless, or "there is a wheel within a wheel." 
It is now universally admitted that the term episcopacy is 
derived from a Greek word which signifies to overlook, 
or to oversee, and that bishop means overlooker or over- 
seer. Now St. Peter expressly distinguishes between over- 
seeing and overruling or lording. Our discipline does not 
assign legislative power to the bishops only in so far as they 
are made ex officio members and presidents of the General 



84 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Conference; they have no veto or negative, save a casting 
vote on an equal division. An attempt, therefore, to transfer 
legislative power to the members of the church does 
not take any thing either in whole or in part formally and 
professedly from the bishops, and yet there are preach- 
ers who consider the proposal as subversive of the epis- 
copacy. Adynasius and the writers for the Repository 
have not intentionally expressed one sentiment hostile 
to a qualified and limited episcopal government, nor have 
they conceived that any inference could be drawn from what 
they have written, to warrant a belief, that they aimed at 
any thing but reform and improvement. It is true, that 
they are among the number of those who do believe that it is 
in the power of the bishops to exercise an undue influence 
over the General Conference, through the presiding elders 
as long as they have the exclusive choice of them ; but surely 
those who would not have one jot or tittle of power to pass 
away from the present holders, do not believe in their hearts 
that the bishops do really possess the law making power in 
our church, or that they ought to possess it, and that to give 
any portion of it to the people would thus subvert the epis- 
copacy. If they do, then there is some disagreement be- 
tween the letter of the discipline and their opinions. We 
have not made it a question whether the church has been 
governed well or ill; but whether there be any check-giv- 
ing principles to prevent a bad government from going into 
operation to any extent ; nor have we any doubt of the 
possibility among a judicious and reflecting people of ren- 
dering episcopacy as safe and as harmless as useful. 

As writers of essays for a periodical publication wholly des- 
titute of legislative prerogatives, many considerations com- 
bined to prevent them from attempting any thing more than 
to point out faults and develope principles. The ungra- 
cious manner in which proffered services are generally re- 
ceived — the danger of dogmatising upon subjects of church 
polity, as it almost unavoidably leads to narrow and party 
views — and the appearance of officiousness and presump- 
tion in individuals who attempt to dictate to organized bo- 
dies, are of themselves a sufficient answer to the query, 
why find fault with the present plan and not point out a 
better ? 

In fact, the only difficulty in our case is, to produce a 
conviction of the evils which may result from our present 
unbalanced government in artful and ambitious hands, and 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 85 

to produce a just and liberal habit of thinking. The ser- 
vile manner, in which our rulers in many instances have 
copied the usages of the British connexion and the tena- 
city with which accidental and temporary regulations are 
adhered to, regardless of all changes of circumstances, ought 
to be corrected by a temper and spirit more genial to our 
actual independence and the constitutional love of liberty 
peculiar to the American people. If the Methodists should 
let the world and the preachers know that they consider 
themselves as God's clergy and heritage, and will not suf- 
fer themselves to be over ruled or lorded over — if the preach- 
ers would unanimously abandon the foolish evasions, and 
pretexts, and excuses and fears, which they have discovered 
so great a proneness to indulge in, whenever the subject of 
church freedom is broached, and frankly declare that they 
want nothing more than a sufficient degree of power to se- 
cure a correct administration of discipline. — If, in a word, 
the preachers should come forward and invite the church to 
co-operate with them in devising and carrying into effect, 
a division of power suited to times, circumstances and 
men's manners, disastorus and ruinous divisions might be 
prevented, the existing prejudicies in the public mind against 
our present polity overcome, and unexampled prosperity be 
the result. 

There is not, we are fully persuaded, any single act 
that would be so beneficial to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, as for the General Conference to concede to the 
church the power of legislating upon the rules and regula- 
tions by which it is to be governed. Such a measure 
promptly and voluntarily taken, would tend to conciliate all 
hearts, and with such an avowal of principles the General 
Conference would be trusted without a murmur and without 
fear; but so long as the preachers plead either the unlaw- 
fulness or impossibility of the church participating in the 
law-making power, there will be little confidence and cor- 
diality between it and the General Conference. We have 
almost daily examples of the weakness of the ties which 
bind the members to the body, in the manner which they 
either withdraw from it or suffer themselves to be excluded. 
The strength and security of a church in this country must 
ever depend upon the affection of its members; destroy this 
and the first shock jeopardizes its existence. 
8 



86 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 9. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. i. January 17, 1822, No. xxi. page 330. 

Anticipation. — Our Episcopacy will go the way of all flesh. 

There are certain causes whose effects are known so 
well, that wherever we see them in operation, we may safely 
predict or anticipate their consequence. It is now reduced 
to a certainty, that all is committed to the issue of a struggle 
for the majority. All the minor considerations respecting 
the presiding elder question, are swallowed up in this one, 
shall the order remain as it is? It is altogether idle to talk 
about nominations and elections, and making them chair- 
men of districts, and an hundred other notions. Changes 
and interests must be made, so as to gain the majority in 
the next General Conference to vote for the old order of 
things. Now we anticipate that sundry appointments will 
prove very unpopular, and that from this quarter new fears 
will arise. It will be found that the thinkers will prove "too 
many" for the men in power. What then can be done? 
Why the thinkers must by some means be brought into 
place. The best pastures must be given to those who can 
do the most to deserve them. A market must be opened 
for talents, and we must have a school for logicians who 
can match the balancers. And in process of time, by this 
natural and obvious process, we shall get a race of learned 
presiding elders, and finally of learned bishops. We do 
not mean to insinuate that they will not be very good 
men and good officers, but that they must have a little 
more learned leisure, and as they will know by experience 
the value of good helmsmen, they will find it expedient to 
give the laboring oar more frequently into the less skillful 
hands. It is not to be presumed that the present worthy 
incumbents have any of these anticipations or intentions, 
but that on the contrary they are aiming to avoid these con- 
sequences by every means in their power, but they are 
short lived mortals, and may not their successors aim at other 
ends, or may they not be in the vortex? The current of 
events may prove uncontrollable, and no alternative be left 
them, but to pursue the course we have anticipated, or give 
up power. The more convenient and wealthy stations, 
circuits, and districts, must be secured to favorites for the 
double purpose of securing both preachers and people. 
All this may be done so as for a time to conceal the ulti- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 87 

mate object from the doers as well as others; but every 
step taken in this process, will render it more difficult to 
recede until it becomes impossible. How many changes 
took place in the Roman hierarchy before the election of 
the pope was fixed unalterably in the hands of the cardinals. 
Now the pope makes cardinals, and the cardinals make the 
popes. A certain writer, in allusion to the vast incomes of 
the bishops in the English hierarchy, and the almost starv- 
ing condition of the curates, &c. compares the effects of 
those salaries upon the minds of the clergy of the English 
church to that of a lottery upon the public mind, &c. This, 
in some respect, will be the final condition of our hierarchy. 
All will be taught to hope for the few prizes, the best ac- 
commodations, and all will despair of them without the 
favor of- the episcopacy. The bishops will make the pre- 
siding elders, and the elders the bishops. Mutual interests 
will give rise to mutual fears. No sensibilities are more in- 
stinctive than those which belong to ambition. All this 
commerce for places may be carried on by dumb signals or 
indirect hints. A bishop once said to a preacher, that his 
colleague proposed him for a certain district, but I said, you 
was too much of a republican. The preacher was indeed 
too much of an independent man to be won by such an 
artifice, but he was a young man, and was more intent upon 
the improvement of his mind than desirous of office. The 
time was not yet come to try him to the uttermost, nor is it 
yet fully come to try other men so; but come it surely will, 
if the present unbounded prerogative remain. Several 
ehanges must before long take place, not for the want of 
zeal or fidelity on the part of the servants, but for the want 
of popularity: yet, as we have hinted, we do not think the 
plan is yet fully matured. In our great lottery of offices, 
there are too many blanks for the prizes, and the prizes are 
too great. There is too much temptation to ambition for 
human virtue long to withstand. It is most seriously to be 
regretted that some plan could not have been mutually 
adopted to equalize the influence of office more effectually, 
but if the attempt fails in the next General Conference, it 
will probably be too late to make another effort. The 
English national church is said by its own clergy to be the 
best in the world, and it may be so, we only oppose the 
ancient maxim to the testimony, "Let another man praise 
thee, and not thy own lips," &,c. It more immediately 
concerns us to consider, that whatever excellence there 



88 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

may be in any national church, ours is not national. That 
a church and ministry like ours, the youngest and the last 
among the thousands of our Israel, should be so rare ripe 
in prerogatives, leads us to fear the natural consequence, 
"soon ripe, soon rotten." We have always apprehended 
that our strength or power grew too fast for our understand- 
ings. No disproportion, in our judgments, is more unbe- 
coming, or of more injurious consequence. And certainly 
none is more difficult to correct. In the progress which 
we anticipate, we do not conceive that much immediate in- 
convenience will be felt in those conferences that are nearly 
unanimous on either side; its first effects will be realized in 
those parts where the members in opposition are nearly 
balanced. If our anticipations are ever realized in any de- 
gree, the friends of ecclesiastical liberty need not wholly 
despair, for they must perceive that though power cannot 
be controlled by an external agency, there are cases in 
which it tends to neutralize itself. P. P. 



JSo. 10. 

Western Repository, vol. i. January 17, 1822, No. xxi. page 332. 

Methodist History. — Letters to a Young Preacher, No. IV. 

My dear young friend, 

The intervention of a wide ocean betwixt this and the 
then mother country, is well known to have been one of 
the causes which led to our independence. A similar cause 
led to a similar effect in respect to the Methodist society. 
We were too far removed from the parent stock even while 
the national relation existed, to reciprocate the feelings and 
affections of one body or family, unless some other means 
had been resorted to than that of occasional visits from 
missionaries. But though we obtained Mr. Wesley's con- 
sent to become an episcopal church, it does not appear on 
the face of the communications and transactions, that he 
anticipated all the events which actually took place. The 
election of Mr. Asbury by the American preachers before 
he would be ordained, placed him beyond the power of re- 
call by Mr. Wesley; and the omission of the name of the 
latter in our minutes, gave rise to feelings of a very unplea- 
sant nature. Dr. Coke, whose sensibilities were constitu- 
tionally too quick and powerful for his prudence, actually 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 89 

Commenced the complaint in the pulpit, and was only re- 
strained by the timely and resolute interference of some of 
the more judicious of the preachers. The circumstantial 
evidence is sufficiently strong to induce a belief that Mr. 
Asbury had an eye to his own security in making his elec- 
tion a previous condition of his ordination. The leaving 
of Mr. Wesley's name out of the American minutes, re- 
sulted almost exclusively from political considerations; and 
we are safe in concluding that the reason why Mr. Asbury 
did not make a more strenuous opposition to the measure, 
arose from a thorough knowledge of the danger of the 
case. He had witnessed all the difficulties which the Ame- 
rican preachers had encountered in consequence of the 
public notoriety of Mr. Wesley's early opposition to our 
national cause. To revive an inveterate national prejudice 
so soon after the war, would certainly have been hazardous. 
The prayer book and the gown were not so quietly given 
up, particularly the latter, in behalf of which a considerable 
struggle was maintained, and some ungracious tempers 
provoked. A certain preacher being introduced to a friendly 
gentleman in New Jersey, as a great advocate for the gown, 
his reply was, "If I could have my will they should be all 
tied tail to tail, like Sampson's foxes, and fire brands placed 
between them." No habit could be more inconvenient for 
a horseman, and the want of a vestry or dressing-room to the 
country chapels, exposed the gown-men not only to much 
difficulty, but also to some ridicule. These trappings of 
episcopacy were finally given up, and all the heart-burnings 
that they occasioned have long since subsided. The advo- 
cates for the prerogative, unlike their European predeces- 
sors, had discernment sufficient to foresee that they were 
nowise essential to the existence or the exercise of power, 
especially in this country, and therefore judiciously yielded 
to the popular prejudice. 

As nothing contributes so much to the developement of 
human character and conduct as a knowledge of the prin- 
ciples under which men act, it is desirable that you should 
make yourself intimately acquainted with the principles of 
your ministerial ancestors. I shall not hesitate, therefore, 
as often as convenient, to bring principles into review. 
You may recollect that lay-preachers were considered in 
the English conferences, as a sort of extraordinary mission- 
aries, raised up and sent forth in a providential, as well as 
gracious way, to provoke the regular clergy of the national 
8* 



90 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

establishment to jealousy. The recorded peculiarities and 
varieties of the belief of our ancestors, is to us a kind of in- 
heritance, or property, and not a mere deposit committed 
to us for safe keeping. If we can use this property so as 
to make ourselves wiser than they were, we have a right so 
to do. The most fastidious advocate for primitive Method- 
ism is found to have varied his faith in God's designs in 
raising up lay-preachers and the people called Methodists, 
&c. &c. We do not believe now-a-days, if a young man 
professes to be called to preach, that there is any thing so 
very extraordinary in the case, as was once supposed. He 
is sent forth without any reference to the clergy of the 
church of England, or any other church, to preach the 
gospel to every person who is disposed to hear him at any 
hour of the day, though others may be preaching at the 
same time. The primitive preachers believed that a preacher 
ought to have the judicial power over all the members of 
the society; and this power, they conceived, they ought to 
exercise over the members of an independent church, as 
well as while they were members of a national church; and 
of the society at the same time; and their excommunica- 
tions from the latter, did not affect their standing in the 
former. No Methodist preacher, before ordination was in- 
troduced among us, could deprive any person of the sa- 
crament, and yet the members of the conference of 1784, 
all preachers as they were, did not scruple to entrust this 
awful power exclusively to their own hands and the hands 
of their successors. The cautious policy of Mr. Wesley, 
and his prudential movements in regard to the national 
church, I am not disposed to criticise; but it appears to 
me, that it led both him and his followers into a species of 
empyricism in cases where only abstract principles should 
have guided them. If it could have been possible for Mr. 
Wesley, on the supposition that he was properly addressed 
by the Methodists in this country, after the acknowledg- 
ment of our independence by the British government, to 
have replied to their request to be acknowledged by him 
as an independent church, that, Whereas the United States 
had become independent, and application had been made to 
him, fyc. <^c. he did consent that they should meet together 
personally or by delegates chosen by and from among them- 
selves, and make and adopt such form and plan of church go- 
vernment as they in their judgment might judge both scriptural 
and best adapted to their local and national situation, fyc.fyc. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 91 

And had it been possible for the American Methodists and 
preachers to have proceeded in this way, and have formed 
a system by which the legislative, executive and judicial 
powers of the church should so mutually balance each 
other, as to prevent any man or order of men in the minis- 
try or membership, from infringing upon the rights of others, 
&,c. &c. our condition at this time, I am inclined to think, 
would have been rendered much more prosperous. Now, 
the impossibility in this case did not arise from a want of 
goodness or wisdom, but from the prejudices of education, 
local partialities, and the habits of mind which they were 
calculated to engender. With a heart full of good wishes, 
I remain, &>c. 

Senex. 



No. 11. 

Wesleyan Repository vol. i. March 28, 1822. No. xxvi. page 409. 

A memorial to the members of the Philadelphia Annual Con- 
ference. 

This memorial humbly sheweth, that whereas the expe- 
rience of near forty years proves, that the division (or 
rather want of division) of power established by the con- 
ference of travelling preachers who first organized the Me- 
thodist societies in the United States into a separate and 
independent church, is, in this country (the genius of 
whose government, and the spirit of whose citizens, are 
the most free of any country upon earth,) better adapted to 
the spreading of the peculiar doctrines of Methodism than 
to the prosperity of churches — and whereas it is evident, 
that a strong sense of public disapprobation exists against 
those principles in our form of discipline and church go- 
vernment, by which the members of our church are wholly 
excluded from all participation in the law-making power, 
and are thus reduced to a level in point of religious liberty, 
with those professors of religion who lived in the most bar- 
barous, ignorant, and despotic ages — and whereas, inter- 
nal disaffection and loss of confidence are manifesting 
themselves in different places among the members of our 
church, threatening the most dangerous consequences to its 
peace and union: 



9£ SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION* 

The Philadelphia Annual Conference are appealed to, in 
order to induce its members to take these important and 
weighty matters into their most serious consideration ; and, 
from the decided part they have taken in favor of all ques- 
tions pertaining to the cause of religious freedom, a fond 
hope is cherished, that they will not wait for the other con- 
ferences, but set them the example ; and, as the General 
Conference have established a rule, making the concur- 
rence of the annual conferences necessary to certain 
changes in the existing form of government, they will 
come forward before the church and the public, with a for- 
mal and explicit declaration, setting forth, that in their 
judgment and belief, the members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church in these United States, ought of right to have 
a voice personally, or by their representatives, in ordain- 
ing, making, or altering the rules and regulations apper- 
taining to the discipline and government of the church. 
And moreover, that the members of the Philadelphia An- 
nual Conference, will address the other annual conferences 
in a suitable manner upon this momentous subject; earnest- 
ly soliciting their attention to the danger of delay, as well 
as to the actual loss the church is suffering in most of those 
places where active competition is maintained by other re- 
formed churches. The promotion of bible societies, and 
missions, those fashionable displays of religious liberality 
and zeal, highly praiseworthy as they are, sink into insig- 
nificance in respect to our interest, when compared with 
the advantages of instating the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in possession of its rights by a voluntary act of the 
preachers, who now hold the legislative power. The Phil- 
adelphia Annual Conference need not, it is presumed, be 
reminded of the imperishable fame which must follow such 
a declaration in favor of the rights of the church ; nor is it 
necessary to urge this motive upon them, as it is believed 
they are sufficiently conscious of the influence of the higher 
and more imperious motives of duty. Is there any reason 
to fear, that the Northern and Eastern conferences will not 
cheerfully unite in the glorious design of emancipating the 
members of our church from their present humiliating con- 
dition, and of raising them to an equality, and if possible, 
to a superiority in religious liberty, over the reformed 
churches in this country? The examples of the Northern 
and Eastern conferences, will have all the weight upon the 
Southern conferences, which consistency can give them : 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 93 

and fortunately for the latter, in aiming to promote the liber- 
ties of the church, they will not have to encounter the 
jealousy and interference of their state governments ; as 
has been unhappily the case in the emancipation of slaves. 
If there be really any hostility among the Western preach- 
ers to the rights of the church, a few years of experience 
will convince them that religion cannot prosper long in any 
church in this country which is not free indeed ; and that 
preachers can gain neither profit nor honor by legislating 
for others without their consent. It may suffice to add, 
that the declaration herein proposed, will tend to secure 
the confidence of the members of the church within the 
bounds of the Philadelphia conference, and that if they find 
a becoming attention to their interests among the preach- 
ers, they will wait in confidence the final result, which in 
the present state of progressive information, cannot fail to 
be successful. 

Though the members of the church have an undoubted 
right to claim their legislative rights, yet, it is very desirable 
for the honor of the preachers, who enjoy them, that they 
should make a voluntary surrender of them, as such an act 
would inspire the highest degree of confidence and respect. 
When the General Conference shall also declare, that the 
Methodist Episcopal Church ought of right to be free — that 
no man or order of men have a right to make laws for its 
members without their consent — and that the attempt is as 
unevangelical as anti-American, then the doctrine of non- 
resistance and passive obedience will have no more place 
among us: then the knowledge gained by experience will 
lead us towards perfection ; and a spirit hitherto unknown 
and unfelt among us, will inspire us with unexampled ener- 
gies, and lead us to great success, A Methodist preacher 
should be able to say with truth, that those who become 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, become the 
guardians of their religious rights and privileges ; that the 
overseers of this flock and heritage of God, are not its 
Lords. Our book of discipline will never be complete 
without a bill of rights. 

Thousands, 



94 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 12. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. i. March 28 : 1S22, No. xxvi. page 419. 

Thoughts suggested by the manner in which the complaints of 
brethren are treated. 

"If you are dissatisfied with our rules, withdraw from 
the church, go to Stillwell." " We can do without you," 
&c. We shall not now inquire whether this kind of lan- 
guage savors of hard-heartedness or of self-sufficiency ; 
nor whether it be precisely in unison with "come go with 
us, we will do thee good." But we put the question 
whether those who have right and truth on their side, are 
entitled to no credit, when they make any sacrifice of these 
to the peace of the church? Are not those who know 
their rights, under the necessity of continuing to know 
them? Can any length of time, in which men forbear to 
exercise their rights, give to others a title to exercise them 
in their stead without their consent? Rather, from the 
very nature of the case does not every hour and every day 
they submit their rights to others, diminish the pretensions 
of usurped authority? Though men who know nothing, 
may very sincerely fear nothing, yet this cannot be the case 
with those who apprehend danger. We know, from the 
authority of an infallible oracle, that there can be nothing 
new in the operation of cause and effect. We must there- 
fore believe, that there can be no office in our church ex- 
empt from the frailties of human nature. And so long as 
we believe this, we must fear the consequences of the de- 
praving influence of vice over church officers. Our pre- 
siding elders cannot be impeached by any power in their 
districts. Two presiding elders from neighboring districts 
must make and select the court. Bishops too, are only 
subject to impeachment through the intervention of presid- 
ing elders of their own choosing: yet all these are small 
matters when compared with a monopoly of legislative 
power, which destroys all security, that a bad state of things 
may not be made worse, as well as the good be changed 
for the bad. And yet with all these causes of complaint- — 
with all these causes of fear — men who see them and feel 
them, are required to be contented and satisfied ; and if 
they whisper or groan, the door is pointed to, and they are 
told it is upon the latch, and that they may go out into the 
wide world or where else they please. The General Con- 
ference, one would suppose, ought to be open and accessi- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 95 

ble to the opinions of all; and the preacher or private 
member, who endeavors to prevent the discussion of prin- 
ciples, ought to be deemed an enemy to the brethren. For 
an official man to request preachers or members to with- 
draw, is an offence which can only be exceeded by expel- 
ling them unjustly. What right has any man to brow beat 
another out of his fellowship, because he is dissatisfied with 
an existing rule which is made alterable by its own enact- 
ment? There are many men among us, who must lose 
their senses before they can be reconciled to the legislative 
and executive powers in the church being exclusively in the 
same hands. 

Adynasius. 



IVo. 13. 

Preface to Wesley an Repository, vol. ii. 

To those who anticipated opposition only to the Disci- 
pline, from the Repository, every position and sentence, not 
having upon their foreheads, the marks of non-resistance and 
passive obedience, seemed to take the attitude of resistance. 
The writers for the Repository, are yet to be convinced 
that the letter of the Discipline is opposed to the rights of 
the members of the church. That the Discipline neither 
grants nor guarantees to the church the right of making rules 
and regulations for its government, is certain; but, by what 
argument, can it be demonstrated, that the contents of the 
Discipline, oppose all it does not grant? The truth is, that 
book is entirley silent upon the great question of church 
rights, except in the 18th and 2'2d articles of religion, which 
expressly assert them. Not one of the six restrictions 
(most improperly denominated the constitution!) is op- 
posed to the principles of church legislation. Church rep- 
resentation is perfectly compatible with any fair construc- 
tion of either of the restrictions, or of episcopacy and 
general superintendency. 

These pages recommend no overt act, either for the pur- 
pose of suspending or controlling the execution of disci- 
pline. Its writers submit to the powers that be; not for 
wrath, but for conscience sake; i. e. for peace sake. la 
there any more reason, we would most seriously ask, for 
accusing writers of opposition to discipline, who write in 



96 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

favour of a change in its rules, by legal means, than there is 
in charging politicians with treasons, for arguing in favour 
of the repeal of old and injurious laws, and the enactment 
of new and wholesome ones? 

In this volume, the principle of right, in behalf of the 
members of the church has not only been maintained; but, in 
addition to the defence of rights, certain opinions have been 
combatted, either as unscriptural, or as contrary to the dis- 
cipline itself. That the authors of the opinions controvert- 
ed, should claim for their own exclusive benefit, the praise 
of truth and right, was to have been expected; and of course, 
that they should consider their opposers, as enemies of the 
discipline, if not of the church. But we fear not to assert, 
that, every member of the church has as substantially inhe- 
rent privileges to investigate opinions and practices regard- 
ing discipline, as the ministry have to legislate for the church 
without its consent; to impose penal laws, and, to publish 
them to the world. However it may fare with legislative 
enactments, thus originated, put forth and excuted indepen- 
dently of the governed, we are sure that the opinions and 
arguments of individuals, do not amount to legal acts. 

Suppose, for instance, that A says, the General Conference 
have no powers to make rules and regulations for our church 
— and Z says, they have "full powers" — and B says, the 
divine right of the goverment is in the body of elders ; but 
Z denies it. Now Z cannot with any shadow of justice be 
charged with opposing the discipline in either of these cases. 
In the first case, the dispute is about the meaning of words; 
and the proofs, are proofs of fact, not of right: Z does not 
say that the General Conference, ought to have full powers; 
he only contends, that definite restructions, cannot distroy 
indefinite full powers. And in the second case Z does not 
refuse actual obedience to the government of the elders, 
nor to any body else, who are in authority according to 
the discipline; but he proves, first, that the fathers of the 
discipline did not trace its powers to the Scriptures; and, 
secondly, that the powers claimed by B for the body of 
elders, cannot be derived from the Scriptures. It was B 
then, not the discipline, who claimed the divine right for the 
body of elders, and, if Z has disproved the claim, the disci- 
pline remains as it was. When, therefore, B and his frends 
attempt to break the head ofZ, with the Book of discipline, 
they do not treat him logically; and he has aright to self de- 
fence. These distinctions between the discipline, and those 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 97 

who dispute with each other, for or against certain pow- 
ers, are of importance ; for, as long as each party obeys the 
discipline, is it not equally bound to protect both? 

Having brought this second volume to a close, we would 
devoutly express our gratitude to divine providence. Read- 
ers and patrons are now invited to reflect more seriously 
than ever upon the merits of this controversy. We think 
writers may confidently appeal to you in favour of the great 
cause advocated ; and we doubt not, that you will not only 
duly appreciate their prudence, zeal and diligence, in main- 
taining and defending ecclesiastical rights and liberties; 
but, that you too, will enlist under the same banner, and 
never cease the holy strife, until obsolete is written, on every 
vestige of clerical supremacy. 



No. 14. 

Weslejan Repository, vol. ii. June 1822, No. ii. page 67. 

The tradition of the elders: or as some call it, the constitutional 
question. 

This is a brilliant period for the shores of our Chesa- 
peake, and the Baltimore conference. The mantles of our 
Pigmans* and Cassells have again fallen upon the favorite 

* Ignatius Pigman, one of the early Methodist preachers, was a natu- 
ral, rather than a self-taught orator. At one period of his life, by a 
train of untoward circumstances, he became obnoxious to a conside- 
rable degree of public prejudice and censure; and yet, at that very 
time, in his native place, surrounded by his greatest opposers, such 
was the power of his eloquence, that he could work upon their feelings 
in a manner which surprised and confounded them. His surviving 
hearers to this day give him the precedence of all other speakers. 
There seems to be sufficient evidence to induce us to place him among 
the great natural orators who have appeared in different ages and 
countries, and indeed, if we might adopt the rule in order to deter- 
mine the native countries of orators, which naturalists do, in order to 
ascertain the native regions of certain trees and fruits, viz. whenever 
they are found wild in the forests, as the olive tree in Asia, which 
produces fruit in perfection when the surrounding growths are cleared 
away, and it is exposed to the sun. We might safely pronounce the 
shores of the Chesapeake, to be a native country of orators. Men, 
women, and children, learned and unlearned, rich and poor, can all 
relate anecdotes of the effects of Mr. Pigman's preaching. Unfortu- 
nately it should seem, that he furnishes another melancholy example 
of the danger of trusting to native powers of elocution, and neglect- 
ing to cultivate them. It is highly probable, that, if the consciousness 

9 



98 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

sons of Maryland. After two days of debates and expla- 
nations, the resolution to pronounce the act of the late 
General Conference, respecting the choice of presiding 
elders unconstitutional, was indefinitely postponed 49 to 
26. The opposers of the resolution would fain have dis- 
suaded its friends from bringing it forward at this time ; but 
when it was submitted, they shrunk not from the discussion. 
This result is highly gratifying in many respects ; we were 
particularly pleased to find that so much amicable feeling 
remained after the question was put to rest ; and we trust 
that this trial of strength will serve to abate that air of con- 
tempt, heretofore but too visible in the manner of certain 
brethren, and produce a more respectful tone of feeling in 
the breasts of those who have the mortification to find 
themselves in a minority, they will not surely deem it a 
great act of condescension to treat their brethren in the 
majority as equals. The address, it is said, has the merit 

of his mighty energies, as is too often the case, had not allured him 
from the closet, he might have escaped all the misfortunes of his life, 
and left a name among the foremost in the rolls of fame. Mr. Pig- 
man was once preaching on the commons in Baltimore, and in illus- 
trating the joys of a converted penitent, he introduced a sailor, who, 
after a long and tempestuous voyage, descries land: but using a lands- 
man phrase, a sailor, who was lying on the grass, sprang up, and cried 
out in his wonted tone "land hoo!" 

We take occasion to bring into view, the talents of our public 
speakers, not from any affectation of vanity, but to convince our 
friends, that the effects which they have witnessed, were produced by 
adequate causes, and our opponents, too, if they should chance to be 
among our readers. We have really had men among us from the be- 
ginning, who were inferior to none, who lived in the same time, and 
place. Several of the members of the Baltimore conference, who have 
been in the habit of hearing our statesmen and counsellors, declare 
that they seldom if ever heard a speech to surpass that of our Apollos 
on the present occasion, and we are sure that in this judgment they 
do not greatly err, as brethren cannot be easily blinded by party favor- 
itism, while matters of controversy engender keen feelings of resis- 
tance. He who can extort admiration from a rival brother in the heat 
of debate, displays the greatest resources of his art, and must be a 
master indeed. We are not ignorant that it was said on the floor of 
the conference, that the argnments were not new; but this was disin- 
genuous. It is a mere matter of accident with the genuine orator, 
whether he or another, first advanced an idea. It is the privilege of 
such geniuses to give new lustre to every subject they touch. We 
consider this as an era in our conference, and if there be not some- 
thing radically defective in our system, we are destined to rise to new 
and unexampled degrees of eminence. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 99 

of being well composed. It is unusually long, and some 
say, remarkable for pushing assumptious to their extremest 
consequences — "If the sky shall fall we will catch larks." 
The writers of the address wanted nothing but facts and 
arguments to have secured to them a complete victory. 
We hope that so much talent will never again be so much 
misplaced. How such acute logicians should have been so 
little versed in the art of divining, is matter of surprise. 
This immense display of art, could only have been intend- 
ed for the north and the east, where it is as unavailing as 
Persian numbers against Grecian tactics. The chief speak- 
ers in behalf of the powers of the General Conference, are 

in several respects dissimilar to each other : Mr. was 

marked by the genius of oratory for her own, she gave him 
a memory as true as a mirror and of the utmost tenacity, 
gifted him richly with taste, and inspired him with un- 
daunted heroism, but unfortunately, from some cause or 
other, the bees neglected to settle on his lips,* and the ar- 
dor of his mind partakes more of the nature of earthly fires 
than of the lightning of heaven, but, notwithstanding his 
want of tone and melody of voice, and defect in the art of 
condensing his thoughts, he is a formidable rival, and if he 
shall give more of his days and nights to writing and prun- 
ing, will rank high among the first class of orators. Mr. 

, on the contrary, w 7 ants nothing but physical force, 

nature and art have vied with each other in enriching and 
embellishing his mind. He is unquestionably a most skil- 
ful debater. A head so cool and so clear, is rarely found in 
any deliberative body. We have to regret that we may not 
give an abstract of this interesting debate, as the address is 
inaccessible to us, and we choose not to trust to memory. 

Taking the address, as we may safely do, as an expres- 
sion of the opinions of its authors and advocates, we may 
give a satisfactory view of the final form into which the 
question in dispute is likely to resolve itself. This we have 
already expressed in our motto, " The Tradition of the El- 
ders" — that is to say, this controversy cannot be carried on 
without obliging the opposers of the powers of the General 
Conference to say in effect, that a usage or custom ought 
to continue because it has been — that it is not old because 



*The ancients used to say of those who were remarkable for sweet 
or honied accents, that the bees settled on their lips as they slept in 
their cradles. 



100 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

it is right, but right because it is old- — for the restriction 
cannot be made to apply at all unless it is construed so as 
to embrace all the existing rules. They must argue, there- 
fore, that the General Conference of 1808, did not intend 
that any of these should be altered by any General Confer- 
ence, and of course it was wrong for the General Confer- 
ence of 1820, to alter one of them. 

The change contemplated by the General Conference is 
recommended in the address, provided all the annual con- 
ferences agree to it. But the Mississippi conference would 
not agree to it, and was only prevailed upon by the presid- 
ing bishop to suspend its vote till next year. We pre- 
dicted precisely such a state of things, and still wonder 
above measure how the authors of the address could have 
been induced to believe in a different result. 

Uriel. 



In the July number, 1822, page 111, "Review of Methodist Episco- 
pacy, by Amicus," commences, and is concluded page 377. 



Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii a July 1822, No. iii. page 114. 

The concluding essay of Philo-Pisticus. 

Mr. Stockton — I find by your last number that you are 
about to give up your Repository for the want of patronage. 
If it is not too great a sacrifice, I would wish you to pub- 
lish one number more, on account of this communication, 
which seems to be called for by the nature and number of 
my essays on the subject of church government. The aid 
of my pen, as you recollect, was selected by yourself; but 
no contract ever existed betwixt us , while I was free to 
write, you were equally so to publish or not. As I have no 
claims upon you, it would be ungenerous to request you to 
burden yourself with additional expense for my sake. 

I was taught by the creed (commonly called the Apos- 
tle's) to believe in the Holy Catholic Church, and in this I 
acquiesced until the Romish writers drove me to examine, 
and the examination ended in a conviction that this article 
in the sense which the Romanists give it, could not have 
been penned by the Apostles. Those who believe that the 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 101 

Romish church, or some of its officers, by modification of 
their existence, are infallible, and that there is no salvation 
out of its pale, use t«he words u I believe," &c. in a differ- 
ent sense from those who profess merely to believe in the 
existence of an universal church. This last meaning also 
I have been induced to consider as not sufficiently expres- 
sive, and have added or rather implied the word rights; so 
that this article of my creed became, or, " / believe in the 
rights of the whole church and of every part of it." 

That, the word Catholic, or universal, was not used by 
the apostles, seems to me to be probable, as I can perceive 
neither the propriety nor the use of it at that early period. 
Was it suited to the mouth of a newly-converted Jew, 
whose greatest difficulty evidently arose from the giving up 
of his fellowship in the ancient church of his fathers for 
the newly established church of Jesus Christ? This ap- 
pears from the following passages: "This sect which is 
every where spoken against." " A ring-leader of the sect 
of the Nazarines." "After the way that they call heresy, 
(or a sect) so worship I the God of my fathers." Were 
those Jews and Paul at that time accustomed to the high- 
sounding words Catholic or universal ? Was not the word 
infant, more expressive of the state of the church in the 
days of the Apostles, than universal? Did the members of 
the primitive church doubt, or had they any cause to doubt 
its holiness? When the church became numerous, and the 
spirit of division ran high, the epithets holy, catholic, and 
apostolic, were naturally enough suggested, and it was in 
some such time that they were probably introduced. The 
part of the Apostles' creed, or their belief, which related to 
the church, appears to me to have been something like the 
following, viz. I believe that all the believers in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who shew their faith by their works, are mem- 
bers of the general church. I believe that every member 
of any individual church has a right to be judged by his 
peers. I believe that no body has a right to make laws for 
the government of a church, without the consent of its 
members. The probability that the creed or belief of the 
Apostles was nearly, if not exactly, in substance as here 
stated, will appear from the following references: "I will 
shew thee my faith by my works." "If thy brother offend 
thee — tell it unto the church, and if he hear the church — 
and if not, let him be to thee as a heathen man," &,c. 
"Not that we have dominion over your faith." "The 
9* 



102 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

elders which are among you I exhort — feed the flock of God 
which is among you, taking the oversight— neither as being 
lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock." 
These texts do strengthen, establish and settle my faith in 
the rights and privileges of the holy-catholic or universal 
church ; I do believe that there are other christians besides 
those of the particular church of which I am a professed 
member, and that all christians are to be judged in this 
world, and at the last day, by the evidence of their works, 
rather than by their professions. And moreover, I do be- 
lieve, that no plan can be adopted to lord it over God's 
heritage so effectually as for its overseers to make laws to 
govern it without its consent — that this is one of the most 
dangerous examples of the exercise of principle, which the 
elders can give to the flock of God, or the republic, or the 
world. The germ, the embryo, the quintessence of all the 
evils which can affect human society, is contained in this 
one principle. It is, as it were, a Pandora box of social 
miseries. By this one fatal expedient, of making laws to 
govern others without their consent, every species of crime 
has been at some time or other legalized. All the slavery 
of the body and the mind, in all its civil, religious, and do- 
mestic forms, may be traced directly or indirectly to the 
principle that men have a right to make laws to govern men 
without, their consent. Give to a slave a power to make 
laws for himself, and where are his fetters ? War, all fierce, 
and cruel, and bloody, as it is, would loose more than half 
its horrors, if the conquered were left to make their own 
laws. The millions of Africans, and their descendants, 
who are transported over the Atlantic, or driven like cattle 
from north to south, and from east to west, in our country, 
would have cause tG bless the day of their transportation, if 
no laws could be made to govern them without their con- 
sent, in the countries to which they are destined. What 
reformation in religion is there, or can there be, if the 
members of the church have not restored to them the power 
of making the laws by which they are to be governed ? Have 
they any security for the salvation of their own souls? But 
was it not a great and glorious thing for the English nation, 
when the supremacy of the church of England was trans- 
ferred from the Pope to the King, from Rome to London ? 
undoubtedly it was ; but still it was only a change of mas- 
ters or lords. Under the new supremacy there was oppres- 
sion enough in all conscience. The supremacy of our 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 103 

General Conference was not obtained by way of exchange. 
This master and lord of ours is not a substitute for a worse 
one and a foreign one. The king of the English church, 
and its hierarchy, claimed no supremacy over any christian 
in the United States ; no, not even over her most dutiful 
daughter, the Protestant Episcopal Church, who is acknow- 
ledged by her to be a true church, though she admits no su- 
premacy under heaven, but makes her own laws by dele- 
gates of her own choosing. Ah! what heart of sensibility 
can contemplate this voluntary assumption of power on 
the part of our travelling preachers, without grief and 
shame ? 

It is now nearly twenty years since I resolved never to 
enter into a General Conference to make laws for others, 
without their consent. In one instance indeed I broke this 
resolution ; but it affords me no self-complacency. During 
this period, though my faith in the rights of the church has 
been firm, yet it has been dead, being alone; and it is proba- 
ble that it would have remained so to this day, if your pa- 
per had not been offered as a vehicle for my excogitations. 
This silence has often been unpleasant, but when I have 
beheld among the nations of the earth, who set in the val- 
ley of the shadow of political and ecclesiastical death and 
bondage, the progress of the principles of free suffrage and 
the rights of legislation, my feelings have been agonized 
almost to phrenzy, lest our travelling preachers should per- 
sist to make laws for us without our consent, until the Pope 
himself shall grant to his subjects in the ecclesiastical 
states a lay delegation, which he will do sooner or later, or 
his name in common with others who maintain such a su- 
premacy over the church as to legislate for it without its 
consent, will be blotted out from under heaven. 

Well, my friend, however faulty my silence may have 
been, perhaps I have gained something by this delay. Out 
of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh. My heart 
has been full to overflowing, and I trust that I bear this tes- 
timony in the true spirit of martyrdom. I love the church 
and I love the preachers, and it is this that adds so much 
poignancy to my grief, to see that abomination which 
maketh desolate, ecclesiastical supremacy, standing in our 
holy place where it ought not. O what a fearful example ! 
What a monstrous alliance to priestly despotism ! What 
would America come to, if all its legislatures should follow 
the example of our General Conference ? Let those states 



104 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

who do follow it in any measure answer. — I know that the 
travelling preachers, and many of the members of the 
church, consider it as a slander not to be borne, to be told 
that a legislature who make laws for slaves, and the General 
Conference making laws for the Methodist Episcopal 
Church without its consent, act under one and the same 
principle. But can they, or can any man, point out the 
difference ? The difference in the laws they make does 
not alter the principle. The difference of their motives and 
objects does not alter the principle. For the legislature 
may change its laws, its motives, and its objects, as long as 
it is independent of those for whom it legislates; and the 
civil legislature legislating over slaves may, as some of them 
have been known to do, make laws to emancipate them 
and raise them to the dignity of free citizens with the right 
of suffrage ; while an ecclesiastical legislature may become 
more tenacious of its monopolized powers. But it will be 
said that no parallel can be run betwixt civil and sacred 
matters ; that the cause of God is too important to be given 
up to any temporal consideration — What for instance is to 
become of the travelling connexion, if the members of the 
church are intrusted with legislative powers? Often and 
confidently as this question is repeated, I cannot when I 
hear it, bat cry out, ye of little faith! Let Isaac ask where 
the sacrifice is, but the father of the faithful answers, God 
will provide one my son. How weak must the faith of 
those be, who are dete-rred from doing right for fear that evil 
may happen. I am so far from believing the travelling plan 
would be injured by the exercise of church rights, that it is 
my deliberate opinion that it never can greatly prosper in 
this country, until it is brought to feel the reaction of those 
rights. Nothing but sincerity in an urgent case ought to 
induce travelling preachers, or their friends, to confess that 
they believe that itineracy and the rights of christians are in- 
compatible. But if they really are, can they be put in 
competition? Is not the former in comparison with the 
latter as the dust in the balance ? The salvation of the 
world — the millenium depends upon the rights of the 
church to make the laws by which it is to be governed. 
All the denominations which sprung from the reformation 
in the United States, have had a share in this glorious work 
of church emancipation from supremacy but the Methodists, 
whose necks have again been brought under the yoke even 
after they were made free, and to console them for the loss 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 105 

of this crown of rejoicing, they are told about the travelling 
plan. If this attempt to put the travelling plan in com- 
petition with social rights is persisted in, and the people 
are taught to believe, that they have purchased and must 
continue to purchase the former at the immense sacrifice of 
the latter — will not itinerancy stink in their nostrils ? As 
a friend to a travelling plan, I am bound to advocate the 
legislative rights of the church. 

The advantages of correct piinciples of liberty to church 
as well as to state are infinite. It is impossible to calcu- 
late or to foresee their extent or duration. How must the 
bosom of every citizen of the United States swell with 
pleasure when he reads the constitution of the Republic of 
Colombia ! What was the condition of those Spanish pro- 
vinces when our independence was declared or our consti- 
tution adopted? Behold, may every patriot exclaim, Be- 
hold the child of the American doctrine of legislative 
rights ! Illustrious offspring, who almost realizes the an- 
cient fables of the descendants of the Gods — destroying 
serpents and doing other mighty deeds in the cradle. In 
our church, alas ! no fond ct^-ioipa lions can be cherished of 
freeborn sons and daughters ; lo ! we go childless. De- 
prived of freedom, how can we propagate them ? We have 
neither principles of social liberty to be learned, nor exam- 
ples of it to be copied. 

Over this subject, so fruitful of humiliating and gloomy 
forebodings, this desert waste without one spot of refreshing 
green in all the prospect on which to rest the eye, I could 
pour out my soul like water. I could write forever, could 
I but hope to rescue my brethren from this strange infatua- 
tion of power, this fatal blindness to their own glory, as 
well as the everlasting good of the church. I am some- 
times almost led to doubt the evidence of my own senses. 
Am I not laboring under some deception of the imagina- 
tion ? Am I in America? Are these Americans ? How 
then is it possible that a whole church should be deprived 
of the right of suffrage, and none but the voices of masters 
and lords be heard in these halls of ecclesiastical legisla- 
tion ? Mysterious dispensation ! unexampled state of things! 
Retrogade movement of mind ! 

Neither fame with her trumpet, nor history with her pen, 
shall proclaim or record the name of one of our bishops 
among the patrons and promoters of the church's rights to 
legislate upon the laws by which she is to be governed. 



106 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Some one of these overseers, one would think in General 
Conference, when he looks round and sees none but elders, 
might feel like a shepherd without his flock. Is he never 
tempted to ask: Where are the brethren? have they no re- 
presentatives here ? Can he be ignorant that the General 
Conference, while it legislates for the church without its 
representatives, exercises a more than mortal sovereignty ? 
It would be well for the supporters of the supremacy to try 
their skill upon the following texts: "Call no man master, 
for one is your master, even Christ" — "So that he sitteth in 
the temple as God, shewing himself that he is God." If 
those who make laws for us without our consent are not our 
masters, is there any meaning in the word? I well recol- 
lect how I was condemned as it were out of my own mouth, 
I had attempted to translate and to explain this second 
passage, without suspecting the consequence, and it reflect- 
ed, "thou art the man." I had made out, and I thought 
demonstrably, that absolute legislation is the proper act of 
God — that he alone has a right to make laws without con- 
sulting those for whom they are made, and therefore Em- 
perors, Kings, Councils, ari'cT'l'opes, who make laws for 
mankind, without consulting them or their' representatives, 
sit in their legislative temples as gods, shewing themselves 
that they are gods. Notwithstanding all the interest, all 
the self-love, and perhaps pride too, which opposed the 
conclusion, I could not shelter myself, nor the General Con- 
ference, from it; and to this hour I am terrified and trem- 
ble at the recollection of having co-operated in such an 
awful act. It cannot be long, I am fully persuaded, before 
the travelling preachers must give up their supremacy. If 
they will not be advised and warned with the voice of 
friendship and love, they may expect that the providence of 
God, which is so evidently abroad in the earth, vindicating 
the injured and insulted attribute of the law-giver of the 
universe, will make its displeasure fearfully evident. Min- 
isters of Christ! how could you so misconceive of your 
calling? You were not called to make laws for others; 
this was the work of your adorable master. Your work is 
to oversee ; and if bye-laws or rules are needed, you cannot 
make them, and execute them too. If you will mark the 
progress of public opinion, you must perceive that what 
Isaiah said of sacrifice will apply to human supremacy. 
As he that killeth an ox will be as though he slew a man, 
so he that shall attempt to make laws for the church will be 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 107 

in the public opinion as if he committed sacrilege. But 
while I speak thus, I admit that a consent may be tacit, or 
implied, and that a change may be a work of time. The 
present government need not be suspended ; all that the 
travelling preachers need to do to exonerate themselves is, 
to disavow the principle of right, and declare their readi- 
ness to give up the expediency whenever the church re- 
quires it. I am not sure that it would not answer a tem- 
porary purpose if the church were agreed, for them to elect 
preachers only ; but let not the right be assumed that would 
be to rebuild the things which were destroyed. The progress 
of opinion may be steady and triumphant, without imped- 
ing the work of religion for a day. 1 repeat again, there 
need not be any division. Sacred and important as I do 
hold the legislative right of the church, I am not so bewil- 
dered by enthusiasm, as to imagine, that all men, women 
and children are so immediately concerned in it that noth- 
ing else ought to be said or done until this point is com- 
pletely gained. The same practical duties which must be 
done then, may and ought to be attended to now ; worthy and 
useful men are not lessened in my eyes, neither do 1 wish 
to lessen them in the eyes of others in other respects, be- 
cause we disagree in this one point. My wish is to see all 
our preachers and our whole church not only workers to« 
gether with God in the great work of awakening and con- 
verting souls, but in promoting the social and religious 
rights of mankind. To this the providence of God seems 
in a peculiar manner to call every professor of religion in this 
free country. This great and glorious privilege seems to 
have been once offered to the British nation, but they judged 
themselves unworthy of it, and it was given to us, and 
Bible societies and missions left to them. How it distresses 
me to think that in all the United States, our General Con- 
ference has only the Romish church to keep them company 
in the supremacy. 

The length of time my opinion has been established — 
the severe and almost hopeless afflictions I have suffered, 
and by which I am unfitted for active duty ; the unexpected 
manner in which I was invited by you to become a corres- 
pondent, and the subsequent developement of the rights of 
the church in the pages of the Repository, tempts me some- 
times to suspect that some providential direction may be 
laying a train for future events. Be this as it may; those 
who come after us need not be wholly dependant upon 



108 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

others, they may find at least one book which claims some 
affinity to Methodism, in which more than one or two wri- 
ters have advocated the rights of the church. 

Philo Pisticus. 



No. 15. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. October, 1822, No. vi. page 235. 

Concerning Ministerial Offices and Succession. 

A certain writer remarks, that Dr. Campbell's lectures on 
ecclesiastical history, gave rise to much acute and angry 
criticism. It is greatly to be regretted, that one cannot 
touch upon "the holy orders," without "putting a match 
to gunpowder." The passions, it seems, are so nearly al- 
lied to this subject, that the very light of inquiry exposes 
them to "a blow up." Nothing at first sight can appear 
more harmless, than to ask what were the origin and dura- 
tion of the executive offices in the primitive church. Daines 
Barrington, or some other writer, as quoted by Doddridge, 
(we have never seen the work,) argues from the republican 
character of the Grecian states, that the executive offices of 
the primitive church were probably elective and limited — 
not for life. It is well known, that the municipal govern- 
ments of the Greeks continued long after they were reduced 
under the government of Rome. Our question is in regard 
to likeness or resemblance. Did the founders of the chris- 
tian church, (we do not say imitate) make the government 
of the primitive church more like the despotic governments 
of Asia, and the new empire of Rome, than the republics 
of Greece? The great body of the earliest converts to 
Christianity were Greeks, or Jews residing among them. 
This question is in point; as, likeness in this case is una- 
voidable. If an officer in a church is elected by its mem- 
bers, he is chosen as in a republic — if he holds his office 
for a limited period, and not for life, the resemblance is 
still evident. Does he succeed to power by the will of his 
predecessor, or by the choice of a few officers, and hold his 
office for life, the resemblance to a monarchy or an aristo- 
cracy cannot be concealed, except from those who have 
eyes and see not. The episcopal office, according to our 
notion, in the primitive church, was executive ; and though 
an elder might have no executive office for a time, because 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 109 

not a bishop; still he might be chosen a bishop from among 
the elders. Query: were they chosen, like the archons of 
Athens, for a limited time? Shocking, monstrous, profane! 
exclaims a pious son of the hierarchy. What! make it a 
question whether a "holy bishop" might be like a profane 
archon of Athens? Let us keep cool. Where is the sin 
of inquiring after the points of resemblance between a little 
round yellow pebble and a pea? If the office of "the pious 
bishop" is like unto that of the arch-bramin, or the Grand 
Lama, or the kings of Persia, or the autocrat of ail the 
Russias, or the Grand Turk, or any other lord or sovereign, 
we can't help it: nor will any description of ours alter the 
points in which they agree. Those churches who have no 
choice in their executive officers, and to whom they are not 
amenable for their conduct, are so much alike, that names 
cannot alter the resemblance. No like is the same. Pri- 
mitive bishops were not archons of Athens, and Methodist 
bishops are not popes; but whether the former are elected 
by itinerant elders, or the latter by cardinals, they are both 
alike, as it respects dependence on the churches; both the 
one and the other, and their successors to the end of time, 
may ride over the heads of its members and set their united 
wishes at defiance. Was a bishop like a Roman consul, or 
an emperor? Like an archon of Athens, or a king of Ba- 
bylon? The name, the crown, the throne, the robes, Sec. 
&c. we leave out of the question. In the manner of com- 
ing into power and continuing in it: these are the points. 
Ah ha! so you have spoken out at last. We knew that it 
was only necessary to give you a rope long enough and 
you would hang yourselves-— that's right — be honest. O 
most modest laymen! you have no objection to an episco- 
pal government, or to bishops, but you must have them in 
your power, they must be elected by you and depend upon 
your caprice — one word, if you please, before you proceed. 
Who promised after the death of Mr. Wesley, "to do every 
thing that they judged consistent with the cause of religion 
in America, and the political interests of those states, to 
preserve and promote their union with the Methodists in 
Europe?" Was this promise ever cancelled? Or has it 
ever been acted upon? Since the death of Mr. Wesley, the 
supreme executive officers of the Methodists in Europe, 
have been chosen annually like the archons of Athens. Do 
our travelling preachers choose their bishops for life, be- 
cause they judge it consistent with the cause of religion in 
10 



110 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

America, (not in Europe,) or because they judge it most 
conducive to the political interests of these states to have an 
executive officer for life? Or do they believe that these dif- 
ferences, or want of resemblance between the governments 
of the two societies, preserves and promotes their union? 
This is insulting. You know very well that our bishops 
were ordained, and of course are the successors of Mr. 
Wesley, but that the members of the British conference 
were not ordained. True — we are not wholly ignorant 
about these matters; but were not the members of the Bri- 
tish conference appointed Mr. Wesley's successors by his 
deed of settlement? A title which we are sure they would 
not give up or suffer to be brought into competition with 
our ordination. The truth is, that the intention of Mr. 
Wesley was countervailed by the election of the Methodist 
bishops; and, the least that is said about our succession, 
may be most easily explained. 

It would have been gratifying could it have been known 
how the founder of Methodism would have answered such 
a letter as the following, had it been, as it ought to have 
been, written and sent to him before our bishops were 
elected. 

"Venerable father in Christ, we your most dutiful sons in 
the gospel, in conference assembled, having read your let- 
ters, &c. after mature deliberation, beg leave to inform you, 
that we cannot consent to the ordination of any bishop 
over us, who is not elected by a conference of American 
travelling preachers, and thus placing him beyond the 
reach of your control or recall, and disqualifying you from 
appointing any other to rule in conjunction with him," &c. 

If it was true, as somebody supposed, that the leaving of 
Mr. Wesley's name out of the American minutes, short- 
ened his days, such a communication would not, in all pro- 
bability, have added many to the years of his pilgrimage. 
We only mean to say, that the duration of the executive 
offices in the British connexion is more like republicanism 
than monarchy; and that'Mr. Wesley knew they would be 
so. We say, moreover, that it is not just to father our 
election upon Mr. Wesley, as it is evident enough that he 
meant to have the making of our bishops while he lived, 
and of giving them the benefit of a sea voyage now and 
then, as occasion might, serve; but from a dread of water 
or some other cause, the plan did not take on our side. 
Now, if it ever comes to pass that the members of our 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. HI 

church have a voice in the choice of our bishops their 
election will be more like a republican election than an 
aristocratical one. 

We cannot, indeed, so easily trace our feelings to their 
origin, as we can analyze them; without pretending, there- 
fore, to account for the fact, we find that we are much less 
scandalized when we perceive any points of resemblance 
between an ancient and modern system of church govern- 
ment and republicanism, than when we hear our brethren 
laboring to prove that the only true features of church go- 
vernment are fac similies of all the odious lineaments of 
priest-craft and king-craft, which have afflicted the bodies 
and souls of mankind from the beginning of the world to 
this day. But there is one particular which we well recol- 
lect, though we have no doubt forgotten many others. 
When Mr. Asbury used to contrive to get the votes of the 
General Conferences to request him to continue to serve 
the connexion other four years, that circumstance first set 
us to thinking whether it would be lawful, or expedient, 
to have an actual re-election of bishops, or choose them 
only for a term of years: and the strongest objection to 
such a plan seemed to us, like to the divine right of kings, 
viz: they are the Lord's anointed, and so we left it. As 
for the zeal of certain brethren, which knows no bounds in 
promoting and flattering the prerogatives of bishops, our 
confidence in it was greatly weakened at an early period 
by the following circumstance. A preacher of some stand- 
ing, having received his appointment, complimented the 
bishop with something so like unerring wisdom, that the 
grating sound roused our attention; but finding the eulogy 
was not repelled by any apparent expression of disappro- 
bation, we pondered the case in our hearts, and loi before 
the end of the year this obsequious brother had taken his 
ministerial standing among the Baptists. To conclude this 
desultory essay; the British connexion have set us an ex- 
ample by choosing their executive officers periodically. 
Does it not behoove us, in order to preserve and promote a 
union, to return the republican compliment, and set them 
the example of giving the members of the church a voice 
in these important elections, that these servants of the 
church may be made to feel, in some degree, their depen- 
dence on those from whom they derive their title and conse- 
quence? It has been well said by somebody, that the mi- 
nisters were made for the church, and not the church for 
the ministry. Comparer. 



112 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 16. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. November, 1822, No. vii. page 241. 

Amicus to the Editor. — Dokemasius to Amicus, Nos. I and II. 
A view of the Primitive Church and its Government. 

Mr. Stockton, 

I have just received from my much respected friend 
Dokemasius, two letters and an excellent paper on the pri- 
mitive church and its government, which he has kindly 
placed at my service, as auxiliaries in the further prosecu- 
tion of the review of Mr. B's book. But as they came to 
hand too late for use in the second part of the review, and 
as the letters and views on the primitive church, constitute 
an able, ingenious, and luminous discussion of subjects 
highly interesting to the members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, I have thought it most advisable to forward 
the whole to you, for publication in the Repository. The 
second letter, in particular, will serve as an answer to the 
whispers of those who have intimated that we are Congre^ 
gationalists. Your's, 

Amicus. 

To Amicus. — No, I. 

Most esteemed friend and brother, 

From what you say of the seller and buyers of the 
monstrous doctrines contained in the book you are review- 
ing, I shall not be surprised to find that the separation in 
New York had its origin, in part, in a knowledge of those 
things. Mr. Stilwell, as Secretary of the annual confer- 
ence, may have had an extensive knowledge of men and 
measures. But, be that as it may, the book was certainly 
in circulation, and its contents generally known, for a con- 
siderable time before the commencement of the publication 
of the Repository. Offensive war, therefore, was declared 
against ecclesiastical liberty, by the purchasers of the copy 
right of the Vindication. In vain may it be argued that it 
was written against Mr. S. and his congregation, while the 
proof exists that it was offered for publication long before 
that segregation. The book contains an avowal of princi- 
ples, which outrages all the rights and privileges for which 
martyrs burned or bled. An attempt is now made by our 
rulers, to their infinite shame be it spoken, to prove that 
the government of the Methodist Episcopal Church does 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 113 

not differ in principle from the Popish hierarchy. The 
first volume of the Repository spared the book and its au- 
thor, though it was well known that he was making the 
most strenuous and unremitting efforts to prevent the cir- 
culation of the Repository; but longer silence would be 
criminal. It is time to speak out. Let no false delicacy 
toward the author, or those who gave him the premium, 
prevent you from probing to the bottom that conspiratous 
publication against the liberties of the children of God. Its 
contents ought to be exposed to open censure, for they are 
calculated to produce new segregations. If such works 
are patronized, the brethren will not be suffered much 
longer to think and let think — "to agree to disagree." 

The enclosed papers are at your service ; they were first 
drawn up in the form of a synopsis, about the year 1799. 
The present copy is considerably abridged, most of the 
quotations from the gospels, and the texts in the originals 
are omitted, and the remarks and reflections shortened. 
One reason which first led me to make this attempt, was 
the propensity that I discovered in those party writers 
whom I read, to use scripture in support of their precon- 
ceived hopotheses. It occurred to me, that as the subject 
of church government is not of the same super-human na- 
ture as positive theology; that, therefore, there is not the 
same necessity for explicit revelation in the form of de- 
scriptions, propositions, and commands, and that if a suf- 
ficient number of precedents and examples exist in the 
New Testament to enable us to find a principle, it may be 
equally true and equally useful, as though it was expressly 
revealed. Ignorant of the result, and fearless of conse- 
quences, I began by collecting the original names of all the 
church offices and officers ; and was surprised to find how 
often the word deacon, and its derivatives, occurred, and 
how seldom the word bishop and its derivatives. The two 
following texts were brought into the most unlooked for 
conjunction: "And his (episcopeen) bishoprick let another 
man take" — "Hath counted me faithful, putting me into 
the (diakonian) ministry." So the apostleship is called a 
deaconship, as well as a bishoprick. Another result was a 
full conviction on my mind, that Episcopalian, Presbyte- 
rian, Congregational, and such like party names, could 
have had no place in apostolic times. When the same 
men called themselves, or were called by others, by various 
official titles promiscuously, we may be sure that no great 
10* 



114 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

stress was laid upon the dignities of office. Almost all the 
conclusions, which were thus forced upon me, by this New 
Testament research, were then, like so many original dis- 
coveries, especially the following, viz. that the primitive 
churches were confederated, and not indivisible, like , the 
modern episcopalian hierarchies. This conclusion, you will 
perceive, could not have been admitted by me, had not my 
mind been so far unfettered as to call no man master. In 
all these points I may be mistaken ; but if I am not, the 
consequence is unavoidable, and ought to alarm our church 
hierarchy men exceedingly. 

With regard to the contemporary existence of all the 
church officers mentioned in the New Testament, and the 
bearing of this fact upon the succession, the conclusion 
upon my mind is irresistible. The apostles and evangelists 
were extraordinary officers ; their extraordinary work was, 
in part, the planting and establishing churches. Were 
they succeeded by the ordinary rulers or overseers of the 
churches, the bishops ? If so, then the successors were 
both ordinary and extraordinary. Titus was an evangelist, 
and yet the tradition is that he was ordained the first bishop 
of Crete, and was at the same time successor to an apostle- 
one apostle — not, surely, to them all. How things change ! 
In Paul's time, God gave some apostles, some evangelists, 
and some pastors ; but if certain men may be credited, all 
these distinctions came to be united in one person. Could 
this change have taken place without an innovation ! How 
is it that our succession men are so inattentive to numbers ? 
We have not a word about the twelve successors. If the 
twelve foundations were so necessary in the beginning, 
would it not have been unsafe to have diminished the 
number as the superstructure grew ? We hear nothing 
about the twelve evangelists, who succeeded the. twelve 
apostles. May we not expect that some one among bur 
profound divines, will soon obtain a handsome premium 
for writing a book, which nobody will think it worth while 
to republish, in order to shew the difference between the 
successors of St. Peter and our three successors of all the 
evangelists? Yours, 

DOKEMASIUS. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 115 

To Amicus. — No, II. 

MOST ESTEEMED FRIEND AND BROTHER, 

It is impossible for any man, whose mind is not fettered 
by the prejudices of education, or influenced by an attach- 
ment for hypotheses, to read the New Testament without 
perceiving, that in the days of the apostles there were se- 
parate churches, possessing an identity of existence. Or, 
in other words, that it did not require all the believers in a 
province, or a country, much less on a whole continent, to 
make a church (or congregation of faithful men.) Nay, 
the plurality of churches is so plain, that nothing but invin- 
cible ignorance, or obstinate prejudice, can help seeing it. 
And yet, on all this great continent we have not, nor do 
our rulers ever intend we shall have, if they can prevent it, 
but one solitary Methodist Episcopal Church, with one 
bishop, divided, it maybe, among a few men : for all the 
men who hold the episcopal office among us make but one 
bishop. Our church is one and indivisible. We. have no 
church in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or 
Charleston. We have no church in any one of the states, 
nor in any number of states, less than the whole. Our 
church identity extends from the rivers unto the ends of the 
earth; and our bishop oversees its "temporal and spiritual 
concerns," having the sole and exclusive jurisdiction, or 
executive authority, as the head over elders, deacons, and 
preachers, in all the annual conferences, to send them when 
and where he thinks proper ; to make, form, divide, subdi- 
vide, or reunite districts, circuits, stations, &c. &c. It is 
this one entire indivisible church, this oneness of oversight, 
which is the glory and boast of our vindicators; and which, 
in their judgment, constitutes the scriptural character of 
our church and government. Destroy this identity, this 
oversight, and then, say they, farewell to the travelling 
plan ; to the disciplinej and a thousand other advantages. 
Many a devout prayer has been offered up, that when the 
Methodists cease to have these characteristics, they may 
be rooted out from the face of the earth. Yet, notwith- 
standing, it does seem strange to some persons, that a 
church and a ministry, with no power save what is derived 
from one man, should be defended with so much zeal ; they 
had imagined, that men would shrink from an ocean where 
all their personal identity as christians and ministers, must 
be swallowed up. But whoever looks carefully into the 



116 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

matter, will perceive, that though such may be the fact, it is 
not perceived by themselves, that classes, and congregations, 
and stations, and circuits, and districts, conceive themselves 
to be whole and entire churches; and that class-leaders, 
and stewards, and travelling preachers, and deacons, and 
elders, and presiding elders, feel like a sort of bishops, and 
of course dread a change in the present system. That this, 
in many instances, is the state of men's views and feelings 
among us, there is sufficient reason to believe, and these 
views and feelings account for the tenacity with which they 
cleave to the present economy. Mr. Hume, in a very able 
essay, explains the fact, that the Persians submitted for a 
long time to their conquerors the Greeks ; by proving that 
the successors of Alexander adopted the policy of the Per- 
sian kings. Their policy was the same in civil matters, 
that ours is in church government. In one view, it seems 
very humiliating, that a whole community, whether civil or 
religious, should be entirely dependent upon one man ; but 
in another, it is easy to perceive that such a state of de- 
pendence must generate expectation, that the same hand 
which humbles us, exalts us also. By sweeping away every 
vestige of aristocratical authority, as well as personal li- 
berty, it is, that all absolute governments, whether in church 
or state, animate the hopes of all, from the least unto the 
greatest, so that the men who have no security for their 
highest honors, are, nevertheless, stimulated to the greatest 
fidelity and zeal in the service of the superior, knowing 
that all are waiting and watching for their place. Were it 
not for this great principle of attachment and hope, all the 
monarchies, and hierarchies, and ours among the rest, 
would soon fail into ruins. I can, for myself, endure our 
government, though by a singular anomaly it excludes me, 
(in common with the rest of my order) not only from all 
hope of promotion, or reward, but from the possibility of 
thinking (as others do) that I have some power or conse- 
quence, while I have none. I can endure almost any thing 
from Methodist preachers, except their attempts to prove 
that this order of things is scriptural. this stirs my spirit 
within me ! Never, no never, shall the glorious gospel of 
the blessed God be made to father such a system, if it be in 
the power of my pen, to vindicate it from such a reproach. 
In this age and country, it is not surprising that there 
should be found preachers and members in our church, who 
in despite of every other consideration, should express 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 1 17 

their utter repugnance to a system which imposes ecclesi- 
astical laws upon them, without their consent. But it is 
probable, that few, even among this number, are fully aware 
of their actual condition, and of the consequences which 
must almost unavoidably grow out of lay delegation. The 
bishops and preachers themselves, who are the most op- 
posed to the introduction of such a measure, have only, 
perhaps, a kind of instinctive apprehension of some ca- 
lamity, which they cannot clearly define. Mr. A's favorite 
and common place maxim, "local men have local ideas,' 7 
proves how little he was versed in atomic philosophy. He 
had often seen amongst us the worst kind of selfishness, 
which, instead of tracing to its true cause, misguided and 
misplaced ideas; he strangely attributed to local views. 
The truth is, that local ideas and feelings are the proper 
bases of all benevolent and liberal sentiments; and may 
unite with others to an indefinite extent. We have had 
abundant occasion to remark, that those who travel away 
all their localities, travel away all their virtues. 

The delegates of the preachers, and of the members of 
our church, in General Conference assembled, would make 
the important discovery, which was hid from the sagacious 
minds of our Wesleys, and Cokes, and Asburys, that there 
can be no universal church liberty, without particular freedom, 
They would find, with some surprise, perhaps, that instead 
of a travelling connexion, we have no parts to be connect- 
ed. The want of ministerial, and church identity, would 
almost immediately begin to be felt, in the first session. 
The amalgamated and indivisible mass, would prove too 
unwieldy for management. Scarcely would the subject of 
liberty begin to be agitated, before it would be perceived 
that neither travelling preachers, nor members of the 
church, have either house or home, — 'that the boasted 
maxim of freemen, "every man's house is his castle," 
would be idle and fallacious in our lips. Our districts, and 
circuits, and stations, and congregations, have no stability, 
but may be more or less changed or modified every year by 
the bishops, who have the plenary power. No sooner then, 
would these workmen attempt to fix their fulcrums and le- 
vers, than they would find occasion to cry out, "give me 
where to stand !" We have no foothold ! None but free 
men can make a free government, none but free churches 
can make a free connexion. What is it that makes one mass 
of matter a rock, and another water ? The same cause. 



118 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

relatively, which makes one community free, and another 
not free. The particles of water, though capable of inti- 
mate union, have the power also of moving freely in all di- 
rections among themselves. The first thing, then, that would 
probably result from a lay delegation, the first important 
change, which it would produce in the present state of 
things, would be, the establishment and security of indivi- 
dual church identity ; the second step would be to main- 
tain and perpetuate a confederated union among these iden- 
tified churches; and the third, a modification and accom- 
modation of the travelling plan, bishops' power, &c. to 
this state of things, upon a basis of ministerial identity, so 
that every preacher might say his soul is his own. All this, 
it is evident, would be a work of time, and great labor. In 
such an event, no General Conference must attempt to 
limit its successor. The highest efforts of wisdom and 
theory must go hand in hand with experience, and nothing 
practical must be sacrificed to hypothesis. Having free 
men, and free churches, for their materials, a General Con- 
ference would be able to raise a noble and glorious super- 
structure, every way worthy of this new world — this blest 
land of civil and religious liberty. The only insurmounta- 
ble difficulty, would be, the name ; for, "Episcopal Church," 
not churches, under all changes, must remain to us, to shew 
s 'the hole of the pit from which we were digged." This 
badge of our original sin, like our mortal bodies, can only 
be put off with our death. From the beginning, we ought 
to have been confederated churches, and our name ought 
to have answered to our nature. "An itinerant minister of 
the confederated Methodist Churches in the United States 
of America," is a title, which would have avoided all. the 
evil consequences of reviving those odious distinctions, 
which tend to foster old prejudices and enmities. Episco- 
pal, and Presbyterian, and Congregational, "moniti meliora 
sequamur." While we dislike the governments which are 
stained and spotted with human wrongs, we can have no 
great reverence for their names. But as a republican may 
inherit the name of "king," so must we retain the name of 
our fathers; it is our name in law. Yours, 

Dokemasius. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. H9 

A View of the Primitive Church and its Government. 

As our fathers and brethren gave us, in their wisdom, a 
form of church government without furnishing us with any 
scriptural rules, principles, or doctrines, by which to illus- 
trate and defend it, does it not behoove us to go to the 
source and fountain head of all information and authority, 
instead of taking the scriptural character of our discipline 
for granted, and continuing to build upon a foundation 
which we have not proved ? What would be our condition, 
were our religion as destitute of scripture support as is our 
discipline ? Nothing can be more plain than our plan of 
salvation ; nothing more perplexed than our plan of go- 
vernment. In the one case, rules and precedents are fur- 
nished to us at all points ; in the other, all is dogmatical. 
Our church government maybe compressed into the follow- 
ing maxim : "All power must be in the hands of the preach- 
ers ; none in those of the members of the church." 

A principle may be given, or it may be found, which, in 
either case, will answer equally well for practical uses, and 
whether given or found, will prove equally true. Nature, 
in almost all cases, imposes upon her disciples the task of 
finding the rules and principles of her operations ; and 
even the disciples of revealed religion may, in some minor 
cases, merely temporal, be placed in the same predicament. 
In order to find a scripture principle, which is not formally 
announced, it becomes necessary to examine all the facts 
and circumstances, in all their bearings and relations, as 
they are stated in the bible. In regard to church policy, I 
am not sure that any principle is formally given in the New 
Testament; but if not, then it must be found. We find, 
from the apostolical writings, that there were churches in 
the plural, and that there were several in the same coun- 
tries, regions or provinces. Thus: "Then had the churches 
rest through all Judea" — "Paul went through Syria, con- 
firming the churches" — "As I have given orders to the 
churches inGalatia" — "The grace bestowed on the churches 
of Macedonia" — "Ordain I in all the churches" — "In all 
the churches of the saints" — "John to the seven churches 
of Asia, grace to you." Each and every church possessed 
an identity of existence, whether in the same or in other 
countries. "I robbed other churches, taking wages of 
them" — "We have no such custom, neither the churches of 
Christ" — "But was chosen of the churches to travel with 



120 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

us" — "They are the messengers of the churches" — "When 
they had ordained elders in every church" — "It pleased the 
elders, with the whole church" — "If the church be met to- 
gether in one place." These separate bodies of christians 
were not called churches by a figure of speech, for they had 
all the attributes of, and functions of entire churches, as 
their own particular officers or servants, their own particular 
places of meeting, and their own particular temporalities. 
Each of the churches also bore a common relation to the 
universal and divine head in heaven, without the interven- 
tion of any earthly head. These churches were distinguished 
from their ministers. "But he that prophesieth, edifieth the 
church" — "No church communicated with me, but ye 
only"— And let not the church be charged" — "There were 
prophets in the church, in Antioch" — "They were received 
of the church and elders" — Paul sent and called the elders 
of the church" — "How shall he take care of the church of 
God" — "The seven stars are the angels of the seven church- 
es, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches." 

In the New Testament the acts of ministers were not 
confounded with those of the church; nor those of the 
church with the acts of the ministry, any more than their 
names. It may surprise those who have been accustomed 
to hear of the primitive church, to find, that in Paul's wri- 
tings no such phrase exists ; but that he uniformly writes 
to, and speaks of churches. 

With the opinions of Romanists or Reformed, we have 
nothing to do, when we are seeking principles. These, I 
repeat, must be expressed in the New Testament, or they 
must originate from it, by plain and obvious consequence 
or inference. If any change take place, even one month 
after the canon of scripture was closed, or without the au- 
thority of the apostles, it is of no more importance in de- 
ciding a question of scripture principle, than as though it 
had happened in the eighteenth century. 

From the New Testament, we find, then, the following 
principles: first, that in the very beginning, churches were 
local assemblies. Secondly, that each and every church 
possessed an identity of existence. Thirdly, that each 
church was distinguished from its office bearers. These 
three principles of church existence, are three natural, 
simple, and obvious means of preserving the rights and 
liberties of churches. By giving to each church identity of 
existence, every individual one must be destroyed before 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 121 

the genus can become extinct. The church of any name 
or country may be destroyed, and yet, if any single chris- 
tian church remains, in any part of the world, the gates of 
hell have not prevailed against it. Nothing is more noto- 
rious, from the whole tenor of ecclesiastical history, than 
the process by which churches have been enslaved. Indi- 
vidual churches must be swallowed up, to make dioceses, 
provinces, &c. This is not only a well known, but a neces- 
sary process of a hierarchy. One ministerial head, or so- 
vereignty over many churches, is out of the question. Hier- 
archists have always aimed to make the church one and in- 
divisible. Be the name, or the form of the head what it may, 
every part of the body is made equally dependent upon it, 
and must die if it be cut off. 

But the indivisibility of the church has neither scripture, 
example nor precept for its support. The union of the 
primitive churches was maintained among themselves upon 
federative principles. Believers are, indeed, considered as 
composing one church, as it respects God and Christ; as, 
"the church of the living God — head over all things to the 
church," &c. — but when we attend to the addresses of the 
apostolic epistles, a distinction of the churches among 
themselves most evidently appears. "To all that be in 
Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints"— "Unto the 
church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which 
are in all Achaia" — "Unto the churches of Galatia" — "To 
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ 
Jesus" — "To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are atPhi- 
lippi, with the bishops and deacons" — "To the saints and 
faithful brethren which are at Colosse" — "Unto the church 
of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus 
Christ" — "To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, 
greeting: — "To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, 
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" — "To them which 
have obtained like precious faith with us"— "John, to the 
seven churches of Asia." It is evident that the epistles of 
Peter, and that of James, were written to Jewish converts, 
and that they have been improperly called general. Cer- 
tainly those members of the twelve tribes who were scat- 
tered abroad, were not a whole, or a universal church; nor 
yet the strangers who were scattered through the provinces 
of Asia Minor. There is nothing impossible or contradic- 
tory in the idea of confederated churches being one body, 
as it relates to their heavy head. In this respect, "there is 
11 



122 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

one spirit, even as ye are called, in one hope of your call- 
ing." It is this that constitutes all the individuals who 
compose different congregations, or churches, one body in 
Christ, as fully as though there was but one pastor or uni- 
versal bishop, under whom all the believers were reduced 
to one congregation. The unity of the church is no more 
affected by the identity of churches, than citizenship is by 
the identity of family relations. 

The men who did not write to two churches in the name 
of one ; who wrote no catholic epistles, cannot be suppos- 
ed to have exercised a universal government. Their ac- 
knowledgment of distinct churches, with their proper offi- 
cers, is proof positive that they established no hierarchy. 
How would it sound to hear of the churches of Rome, of 
the churches of England, or the Methodist Episcopal 
Churches, would not these be strange sounds in our ears ? 
Such seamed garments, and jointed harness, are not adapt- 
ed to supremacy. The body must be one, and the name 
one, that the head may find no resistance in council or 
command. 

Thus, we have sought in the New Testament for princi- 
ples by which to regulate our judgment, of the existence 
and unity of churches; and, if our deductions be true, they 
are the same practical utility as though the sacred writers 
had expressed them in the form of propositions. Let us 
adopt the same method in searching for the principles of 
church government. 

"And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and 
some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
the edifying of the body of Christ" — "God hath set some 
in the church, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, 
teachers; after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, 
governments." In these two passages, and they are the 
most detailed account of the primitive office of any in the 
New Testament, bishops and elders are not mentioned by 
name. The pastors and teachers in the first, may be sup- 
posed to answer to the teachers and governments in the 
second. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, miracles, 
gifts of healing, &c. are confessedly extraordinary, for they 
are equally wanting in all other ages and countries. The 
idea that bishops are successors of the apostles, in the only 
sense it can possibly be admitted, is precluded by their co- 
existence. Nothing is more plain, than that pastors, go- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 123 

vernments, bishops or elders, were contemporary with the 
apostles. "And Paul sent for the elders, and said take 
heed to the flock of God over the which the Holy Ghost 
hath made you overseers" — "And we beseech you, breth- 
ren, to know them who labor among you, and are over you, 
in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very 
highly in love for their work's sake" — "Remember them 
who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the 
word of God, whose faith follow." It may be remarked in 
passing, how little this style savours of the dictatorial. But 
these passages prove, most unequivocally, that in Ephesus, 
in Thessalonica, and among the Hebrews, St. Paul recog- 
nised overseers, rulers, pastors or governments, as well as 
teachers. A succession to oversight or government, in the 
churches, must, therefore, be to those, and not to the apos- 
tles; for by the shewing of Paul himself, the apostles and 
evangelists had not the oversight or rule, in the churches 
enumerated above; and no one overlooked them all; their 
bishops were among them. Now does it not follow, by 
analogy, where no evidence is found to the contrary, that 
the case was similar to other churches? That is, that there 
were elders in every city and church, whom the Holy Ghost 
made overseers. 

Apostles, evangelists, prophets, gifts, miracles, &c. &>c. 
might have been necessary in the planting of churches, and 
the completion of written revelation ; but this extraordinary 
work once accomplished, the extraordinary succession 
would destroy the identity of the original. 

We will now examine the several passages where bishop, 
elder, deacon, or minister, occur. "He sent to Ephesus, 
and called the elders of the church ; the Holy Ghost hath 
made you (said he) (episcopi) overseers" — "This is a faith- 
ful saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he de- 
sireth a good work" — "A bishop must be blameless" — "To 
all the saints at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons" — 
"The elders I exhort, who am also an elder; feed the flock, 
taking the oversight" — "And sent it to the elders by the 
hands of Barabas and Saul" — "They ordained them elders 
in every city"— "The apostles and elders came together" — 
"The apostles, elders, and brethren, greeting" — "They de- 
livered the decrees ordained of the elders" — "That thou 
shouldest ordain elders in every city" — "Let him call for 
the elders of the church" — "The deacons must be grave" — 
"Let them use the office of a deacon" — "Let the deacon 



124 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

be the husband of one wife." Minister, in the New Tes- 
tament, is deacon in the original. Paul says he was made 
a minister, (deacon,) and he thanks God for putting him 
into the ministry, (deaconship.) In the Acts the apostle- 
ship is also called a bishoprick, though the apostles never 
call themselves bishops ; and it is well known to every body 
that bishops are never named in conjunction or disjunction 
with elders, though they are conjoined with deacons. In 
Timothy, the qualifications of bishops and deacons are 
enumerated ; but nothing is said of the qualifications of 
elders. In Peter, the elders are to take the oversight. In 
the Acts, the Holy Ghost makes the bishops of the elders. 
It must needs create some surprise to those who are not 
aware of the fact, that an office which makes such a figure 
in church history, an office which has swallowed up all 
others, or thrown them into the back ground, should have 
been so seldom mentioned by the sacred writers. In 
the Epistle of the Romans, it is not found; nor in Corin- 
thians ; nor Ephesians ; nor Galatians ; nor Thessalonians ; 
and but twice in the Acts of the Apostles. 

We will now proceed to search for the principle of the 
primitive government, as found in the examples recorded 
in the New Testament. 

In the Acts of the Apostles there is a circumstantial ac- 
count of the manner in which the controversy between the 
judaizing teachers and Paul and Barnabas was decided. 
"When, therefore, Paul and Barnabas had no small dissen- 
tion and disputation with them (the certain men who came 
from Jerusalem) they (the brethren) determined that Paul 
and Barnabas, and certain others of them (their own body) 
should go up to Jerusalem, unto the apostles and elders, 
about this question. How were the certain others of them 
selected ? Did Paul and Barnabas choose them, or did 
they offer their own services, or were they chosen by the 
brethren who were vexed ? Nothing but the most positive 
evidence to the contrary ought to influence any man to 
imagine that the latter mode was not adopted in preference 
to the two former. But if it was, then, there were dele- 
gates, or representatives in this case: "And when they 
were come to Jerusalem they were received of the church, 
and of the apostles and elders. And the apostles and 
elders came together to consider this matter. And when 
there was much disputing, Peter rose and said, men and 
brethren, — then all the multitude kept silence, and gave au- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 125 

dience to Barnabas and Paul. James said, men and breth- 
ren hearken unto me. Then it pleased the apostles and 
elders, with the whole church." The vote was unanimous 
without a dissenting voice. The address of the letter is, 
"The apostles, elders, and brethren, greeting, unto the 
brethren which are of the Gentiles, in Antioch and Syria 
and Cilicia." These newly planted churches of Gentile 
converts refer an important dispute, which was occasioned 
by certain men who came from Jerusalem, to* that mother 
church. The church and its office-bearers, as well as the 
apostles, all meet, and all vote; and they write back, "that 
it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost, and unto us." It 
would seem that there were no upper house in those days, 
nGr closed doors. 

This was not a general council, nor a general confer- 
ence, it is true ; and it is equally true, that they did not 
write their letter to the universal church, but to the brethren 
of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, who had 
written to them. The whole of this transaction deserves 
to be studied with great care and attention. Neither the 
judaizing teachers, nor the brethren, seem to have enter- 
tained very awful notions of apostolic supremacy in this 
instance. And whatever may have been the actual power 
of apostles in such matters, it is certain that the great 
apostle to the Gentiles, and his colleague, the son of con- 
solation, interposed no legislative pierogatives to the ex- 
clusion of the elders and brethren. The multitude kept 
silence only while Peter and Paul and Barnabas and James 
were speaking, neither of whom, it would seem, took the 
floor, until an advanced stage of the debate, for there had 
been much disputing before Peter arose. The church, in 
the whole business, is contradistinguished from the apostles 
and elders, so that it is impossible for the art of man to con- 
found them. The parent church at Jerusalem did not vo- 
lunteer in this affair, but acted by particular request. Rome 
seems to have had no more to do with it than Geneva, or 
Canterbury, or Baltimore. 

The next memorable case we shall examine, is the ex- 
communication of the incestuous Corinthian ; in which, it 
is notable, that the church of Corinth was wrong, in not 
putting away that person from among them ; and, of course, 
might have put him away, without the knowledge of St. 
Paul. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned 
that he who hath done this deed, might be taken away 
IP 



126 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

from among you :" they "should have purged out the old 
leaven." He directs, therefore, that "when ye are gathered 
together." The church, it seems, then, had to convene, in 
order to put away that wicked person. Neither the judg- 
ment or spirit of Paul, with the power of the Lord Jesus, 
was sufficient, without the form of a trial before the church. 
Nor was this a novel or unprecedented case. "Doth our 
law condemn a man before it hear him ?" — {i Tell it unto the 
church." Men should be tried by their peers. Let a case 
be ever so notorious, the right to be tried before our peers 
remains inviolable. Mark well ! There is not one example 
in all the New Testament, of apostles, bishops, or any other 
description of church officers, trying and expelling church 
members, without the aid or co-operation of a church; nor of 
apostles, elders, or churches legislating, or making laws for 
any church, without its consent. And, as these acts are 
wrong in themselves, it would be unjust and cruel to attri- 
bute them to the apostles, elders, and primitive christians, 
without positive evidence. When St Paul says, "He will 
not spare," &c. he does not mean that he will act over the 
heads of the judicial authority, which actually existed in the 
church ; but has fully shewn his meaning in the case al- 
ready quoted. "When ye are gathered together with my 
spirit;" that is, judgment. If the facts prove to be, as they 
have been stated to me, he ought to be excommunicated. 
Cruden says, "tell it unto the church," means elders, and 
so says Mr. Wesley; does it follow, if he hears not the 
elders — then, it seems, that the elders might settle the mat- 
ter, not only without the church, but without the apostles 
or bishops. These notions have no logical coherence. 
The case is plain, the whole proceeding is to be understood 
judicially. The functionaries or organs of the church, as 
such, are to be applied to, that the church may act legally 
and formally upon the case, and not be superseded in its 
judgment. 

The seven churches in Asia, are next to be considered. 
No doubt can be entertained but that much of the language 
used in these communications is figurative, and that the 
number seven is selected to accommodate the hieroglyphi- 
cal characters employed in those countries. The seven 
candlesticks, or chandeliers, which thou sawest, are seven 
churches, and the seven stars or lamps, are seven angels, 
(0 ! if they had but been bishops, what a deal of labor it 
would have saved some commentators.) Yet, had it been 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 127 

so, our church writers would have been mightily put to it to 
make seven bishops out of three, and to reduce seven 
churches into one. In a book so evidently figurative as the 
Revelations, it cannot offend the most fastidious reader to 
argue, that we are not to expect to find the details of church 
government; but even when a particular number is put for 
a general or indefinite one, we look in vain for a hierarchy. 
Seven cities have seven churches, and seven churches have 
seven angels. In one of these cities and churches, we 
know that in St. Paul's time, there were bishops, made 
such by the Holy Ghost; and as the apostles used to or- 
dain elders in every city, and in every church, and we have 
no reason to believe that the apostles innovated upon their 
own plans, are we not fairly authorised to infer that matters 
were nearly on the same footing in Ephesus, and other ci- 
ties in Asia Minor, when John wrote to the churches there, 
as they were when Paul was at Miletus ? 

Another principle of great importance, which we are to 
search for in the New Testament, if it be not given or re- 
vealed, is, respecting the manner in which the officers of the 
churches were originally selected. But concerning the 
apostles, properly so called, there can be no question, their 
very name imports their immediate commission from the 
head of the church ; and all the particulars of their being 
chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as their very 
names, are circumstantially recorded by the evangelists. 
When one was to be ordained to be a witness, with the 
eleven, of the resurrection, in the place of Judas, they ap- 
pointed two, and they prayed, and said, thou Lord, who 
knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two 
thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this (dikonias) 
ministry and apostleship, and they gave forth their lots, and 
the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the 
eleven apostles. This must be regarded as a very impor- 
tant transaction, and is entitled to a careful examination in 
reference to the famous question of the apostolic succes- 
sion. Has any other succession of any one apostle been 
so chosen ? An apostle, it is plain, could not be chosen 
even by the apostolic college (as some writers are wont to 
call it.) The ministry and apostleship, from which Judas, 
by transgression, fell, was filled up by the Lord himself. 
May it not be presumed, that vacancies happened from 
time to time by death, and yet, in all the New Testament, 
not the least intimation is given of any successor having 



128 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

been appointed. In the case of Paul, who is a thirteenth 
apostle, the immediate choice of God is abundantly evi- 
dent. "Paul, an apostle, (not of men,. neither by man, but 
by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from 
the dead.) But, when it pleased God to reveal his Son in 
me, — immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood, 
neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apos- 
tles before me — then, after three years, I went up to Jeru- 
salem to see Peter — and I was unknown by face unto the 
churches of Judea, which were in Christ." No lots appear 
to have been cast, that he who knew the hearts of all men 
might shew which of the evangelists he had chosen to fill 
the places, from which, apostles by martyrdom, or natural 
death, had been removed. No one among them, like Paul, 
had seen the Lord Jesus in a miraculous manner, after his 
resurrection. Evangelists are mentioned, in three places, 
in the New Testament: "We entered the house of Philip, 
the evangelist" — "He gave some evangelists" — "Do the 
work of an evangelist." There seems to be some evidence 
that they were selected by the apostles themselves ; but 
they had the approbation of the elders also. "A certain 
disciple was there, named Timotheus — him Paul would 
have to go forth with him" — "Unto Timothy my own son 
in the faith — as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus. 
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according 
to prophecies, which went before on thee — Neglect not the 
gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy and 
the laying on of the hands of the (elders) presbytery — stir 
up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of 
my hands. 

Evangelists seem to have been qualified for their extra- 
ordinary office of helpers to the apostles, by supernatural 
gifts, and to have done all the duties common to apostles, 
except the identical, and essential ones, of bearing witness 
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of writing 
scripture. That they bore an important part in planting, 
and establishing churches, is evident; but how many of 
them there were, or whether they all continued in their of- 
fice for life or not, the scripture is silent. It can only be 
logically inferred, that the secondary office ceased with its 
principal. When the churches were planted, and the ca- 
non of scripture was completed ; or in other words, when 
precepts and examples were furnished, in sufficient number, 
for the direction and government of the churches, these 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. J29 

extraordinary officers ceased, and the ordinary pastors and 
teachers continued the work of the ministry, edifying the 
body of Christ — and perfecting the saints, just as the same 
description of officers do now; for now there is not a suc- 
cessor of an apostle, or an evangelist, upon the face of the 
earth. Modern ministers of the gospel are successors to 
the powers and prerogatives of the ancient pastors and 
teachers; and if any among them pretend to any thing 
more, sooner or later, they will be convicted of ignorance 
or error. The earliest case on record in the penticostal 
dispensation, of a regular election, is in the iv. of the Acts : 
"Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples, and 
said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God, 
and serve tables ; wherefore, brethren, look ye out among 
you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and 
wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we 
will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the minis- 
try of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multi- 
tude : and they chose Stephen, 6lc. &c. whom they set be- 
fore the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their 
hands upon them," Here, it is worthy of remark, that the 
apostles did not even nominate. Of the manner in which 
the elders were chosen we have no account ; but as it is 
clear from the above passage, that the laying on of hands, 
and of course ordaining, does not imply, or include the 
choosing of the men, is it not to be inferred that the multi- 
tude chose or elected, in the one case, as well as in the 
other? May it not be reasonably presumed, that one cause 
why the New Testamont is so silent upon the subject of 
the election of elders or bishops, is that it is a mere com- 
mon sense process? The qualifications for the office being 
stated, as they are, in a very full and detailed manner, noth- 
ing but a positive prohibition, from divine authority, should 
prevent churches from choosing or electing their own offi- 
cers. 

In searching for scripture principles of church govern- 
ment, the divisions which are noticed in scripture, must not 
be overlooked. In St. Paul's charge to the elders of Ephe- 
sus, divisions are anticipated. I know, says he, that after 
my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, 
not sparing the flock; also of yourselves shall men arise., 
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them, 
From Miletus, Paul had sent and called these elders of the 
church (of Ephesus;) but he says not one word about the 



130 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

supremacy, or of his successor. Query, were all these 
elders, who were to take heed to the flock over which the 
Holy Ghost had made them overseers, to feed the flock of 
God at Ephesus, nearly, if not quite, on a footing of equality ? 
If not, why did St. Paul address them on a subject of such 
moment without saying one word by way of inculcating 
subordination to their superior? What did those "of them- 
selves" do in order to draw away disciples after them? 
Must they not have risen to eminence, and claimed prece- 
dence ? That is, have labored to destroy the equality which 
existed among themselves ? Observe, St. Paul foresees that 
bishops will draw away disciples from bishops ! He might 
also have safely predicted, that the same process would take 
place elsewhere. 

In Corinth, schisms did actually take place ; and this 
same apostle labors to correct them. "One said I am of 
Paul, and another I of Cephas, and another I am of Apollos. 
So it seems, that there were some in the church at Corinth 
who preferred Apollos before two of the most conspicuous 
of the apostles. Could this fact have happened, in any 
human probability, if they had been as well schooled in the 
doctrine of supremacy as some moderns are ? Or if St. 
Paul himself had maintained that doctrine, was not this a 
fair and proper occasion for the application of it ? And 
yet, so far is he from saying one word to this point, that he 
does every thing to the contrary. ''Who then is Paul, and 
who is Apollos! but ministers by whom ye believed." In 
the New Testament, it is true, we find not many maxims 
and axioms of church government; but their paucity is 
abundantly compensated for, by a most plentiful supply of 
examples. The New Testament teaches religious liberty 
and equality by example ; the best mode, it is said, of teach- 
ing in the world. I have read this book over and over; I 
have compared it with itself, and endeavored to analyze its 
parts, and I must declare, that I cannot find one single ex- 
ample or principle of ministerial supremacy, on any of its 
pages. To my ear, it speaks one uniform language, and 
that is, "not that we have dominion over your faith; but 
are helpers of your joy." If any man have eyes, or ears, to 
see, or hear, any thing to the contrary, truly I envy him 
Rot. 

DOKEMASIUS. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 131 

No. 17. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. October 1822, No. vi. 

A review of the subject of disagreement between the members 
of the General Conference of 1820, upon the presiding 
elder question. 

" Life is short, and art is long," is a maxim applicable to 
principles and doctrines; for these too, die not with the 
body. The saying, measures not men is worthy of adop- 
tion in this case, as the moral and religious characters of 
the men, on either side, need not be implicated. Some of 
the preachers who are opposed to any change, consider 
C{ the conciliation" as an entering wedge; grant this, say 
they, and more will be demanded. This slowness of heart 
to believe, that men can be induced to give up in part what 
they contend for upon principle, bears little affinity to a 
confidence in the sincerity of brethren. The preachers, on 
the contrary, who contend that the annual conferences 
ought to have a voice in the election of presiding elders, 
though they yield the power to nominate, to the bishops; 
while they admit and deplore the tendency of power to be- 
guile the judgments, both of those who profess and those 
who advocate it, look forward to future men, and future 
times, and in the changes which will bring untried men into 
office, they see the danger of leaving uncontrollable power 
in undiminished force. The weight of their arguments 
have, therefore, been directed to consequences, in order, if 
possible, to bring the present advocates for existing pre- 
rogatives, to reflect how easily, and effectually this potent 
weapon might, in skilful and ambitious hands, be converted 
to the most pernicious uses. With them it is measures, not 
men. They conceive that it is sufficient ground for their 
fears, that the existing powers may be abused to an indefi- 
nite extent; and with them, also, it is matter of serious 
consideration, that no temptation to ambition is greater 
than opportunity. Samuel himself, did not more carefully 
warn the Israelites of the nature and consequences of a 
monarchy, than these preachers have warned their brethren 
of the danger of absolute power in the hands of bishops, 
yet to come into existence, under unforeknown circumstan- 
ces, and in unforeseen events. 

The address of the senior bishop did not anticipate the 
arguments employed in the Baltimore Annual Conference, 



132 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

neither did its friends and supporters give a direct and sa- 
tisfactory answer to those arguments which were employed 
against it. Among a number of reasons in favor of the 
powers of a General Conference, to alter the present rule, 
the following seem to be too important to be overlooked, 
viz : " They," (the General Conference) says the third re- 
solution, "shall not change or alter any part, or rule of our 
government, so as to do away episcopacy, or to destroy the 
plan of our itinerant general superintendency." May not 
(said the speaker) this restriction be construed so as to mean 
they may change or alter any part, or rule of our govern- 
ment so as not to do away episcopacy, or to destroy the plan 
of our itinerant general superintendency ? That is, the Gen- 
eral Conference may change, or alter any part, or rule of 
our government which relates to episcopacy; they may 
change, or alter any part, or rule of our government 
which relates to our general superintendency : but they 
shall not do away the first, nor destroy the second. 
Many kinds, and degrees of changes, or alterations may 
take place, without doing away, or destroying the things 
changed, or altered. The words so as, do evidently ad- 
mit of changes, or alterations, at the same time that they 
limit them ; for it is in the nature of a conjunction to have 
two things to unite or disjoin. If the plan of our itinerant 
superintendency should be made local, it would be destroy- 
ed — if the plan of our general superintendency should be 
made particular, it would be destroyed; for it is inconsis- 
tent with our plan for a bishop to reside, or hold his court 
in one place, as the bishop of Rome or pope does. And 
it is also inconsistent with our plan for our bishops to have 
particular provinces or dioceses, as the archbishop of Can- 
terbury, or the bishop of London, &c. If, therefore, the 
General Conference should abolish the order of bishops, or 
fix their residence and court at one place, or limit their su- 
perintendency to any particular part of the connexion, it 
would do away episcopacy, and destroy the plan of our itin- 
erant general superintendency. Now, the change or altera- 
tion which was agreed to in the General Conference of 1820, 
in that part or rule of our government which relates to presid- 
ing elders, was not intended, nor was it calculated to do away 
episcopacy or to destroy the plan of our itinerant general su- 
perintendency. No other construction can be given to the 
restriction, unless the whole stress and emphasis be laid 
upon plan; but if this rule of interpretation is to be admit- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 133 

ted to such an extent as to prevent the General Conference 
from altering the rule, which provides for the choice of pre- 
siding elders, it must be extended to every part or rule of 
our government, for the restriction is not concerning the 
choice of presiding elders in particular, and of course the 
General Conference would have nothing to do. The word 
change, or alter, is not equivalent to, or synonymous with 
do away or destroy. It is not the plan in the abstract, but 
the plan of our superintendency, which is expressly denned 
by the two adjectives, itinerant and general. The sense 
(said the speaker) given to the restriction by our opponents, 
requires that it should read "they shall not change, or alter, 
or destroy any part, or rule of our government, which re- 
lates to the existing powers of the bishops, &c. 

From this specimen of the arguments which were used 
in favor of the power of the General Conference to agree 
to the conciliation plan, and those used against the address 
were no less conclusive, how was it possible for those 
preachers who heard them, to hesitate to award to those 
who professed to act under a conviction of their truth, the 
virtue of sincerity ? Is the fallacy of this reasoning so glar- 
ing and palpable, that those who profess to believe it in- 
volve themselves in the dilemma of having their heads or 
their hearts impeached ? 

Should the conciliation be finally rejected, the preachers 
must needs divide into two great parties; one of whom will 
be bound, upon their own principles, to maintain that they 
have a right to control the majority, in all cases in which, 
in their judgment, a question becomes constitutional. But 
the other, viz : the one who believe that it is in the power 
of the General Conference to make the presiding elders 
elective, will only expect to govern while they are a ma- 
jority. 

Let us now suppose that this last party find themselves 
to be an actual majority in the delegation, and the episco- 
pacy, will they in General Conference, or on any question 
cm which they have no doubt of their power to act, and 
without a single letter in the discipline to prevent their act- 
ing, submit to be governed by a minority? But if a minor- 
ity should refuse to obey, have they not sufficient means to 
coerce them ? Could they not refuse to elect a bishop, or 
elect one or more of their own opinion, &c. &c. 

No reasonable objection can be urged against a free dis- 
cussion of any question in the annual conferences ; but is 
12 



134 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

not the present plan of requiring them to vote upon the 
proceedings of the General Conference both useless and 
dangerous? The prudence of the Baltimore annual confer- 
ence, in indefinitely postponing the question, will be evi- 
dent to every one who reflects upon the nature of a repre- 
sentative legislature, who like the General Conference, is 
composed of the delegates of the preachers. This body of 
men must needs be supposed to be bound to act according 
to the judgment of the majority, for it must finally come to 
this point, that the General Conference, in their collective 
capacity, must judge what is constitutional, and what is not. 
This apparatus of voting by annual conferences, it is to be 
hoped, is not intended to forestall or prevent a free election, 
or to bind delegates to vote in General Conference accord- 
ing to a past, and not a present judgment. In 1824 a ma- 
jority of the delegates may be fully convinced that the plan 
of conciliation was not only not inconsistent with the third 
resolution, but as expedient as it is lawful. However the 
General Conference may err, it is certain that its members 
never can act right while their understandings are fettered 
and bewildered by the clashing and contrary dictation of a 
number of separate bodies of men, whose opinions are col- 
lected from the extremities of the continent in the course of 
a year and a half or two years. Instead of the voting sys- 
tem, it would be well to act under the maxim "give us but 
light." The most dangerous crisis which can happen to 
us, is to set up and establish a minority with constitutional 
claims and pretensions, in opposition to a majority. No 
schisms and divisions are so fatal and incurable as this kind. 
Majorities are formidable bodies, and whoever succeeds in 
controlling them must become usurpers and masters. He 
must have a superficial knowledge of human nature indeed, 
who can persuade himself to believe that a majority will be 
compelled, contrary to their own deliberate judgment, to 
submit to a minority. 

Those who suppose that there is a deep laid scheme on 
the part of those who wish for a change in the manner of 
choosing presiding elders, entirely mistake the nature of the 
case. Those men only act up to their judgment of lawful- 
ness and expediency. If they cannot convince their breth- 
ren that they are right, and thus secure a majority in the 
General Conference, they are willing to be governed by the 
majority. 

In reviewing this subject nothing produces more surprise 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 135 

and regret than the proceeding of the bishop elect, and the 
subsequent measures of the senior bishop ; who, as has been 
unanswerably shewn by the ablest speakers, had not one 
jot or tittle of authority from the discipline to bear them out. 
But, even if they had, as they no doubt thought that they 
had, a legal right to interfere with the decision of the Gene- 
ral Conference, it is difficult to conceive how they could have 
been more injudicious in the choice of their times and 
means. As the bishop elect was present, the obvious and 
easy course, one would think, must have presented itself to 
his mind, to state his doubts and those of the senior bishop 
(if he was too much indisposed to do it himself) that the 
motion was a violation of the third resolution. This ques- 
tion might have thus been fully discussed and settled, and 
all further debates and heart burning prevented. Whereas, 
in the wrong end foremost manner in which this business 
has been managed, principles and feelings are inextricably 
involved ; passions and prejudices have had an opportunity 
to insinuate themselves, and to perplex and bewilder the 
understanding. When we take into consideration the well 
known celebrity of these two men, not only for the virtues 
of the heart, but for acuteness of perception, depth and 
soundness of judgment, the most probable solution of the 
case will, perhaps, be in the supposition, that they some 
how or other, were led to believe that matters would not come 
to such a crisis, as to oblige them to act at all. The regrets 
which are felt, are heightened by the cordial affection, which 
has been long cherished towards the venerable man, who 
has for a series of years presided over the conferences with 
so much dignity, and whose praise from an early period, 
was in all the churches ; the respect for his junior friend 
and confident also, is in full proportion to his years and 
standing, as an able and faithful minister of the New Tes- 
tament. It would afford the most sensible gratification to 
be able to anticipate, that the historian will find himself in 
possession of ample data, to present these transactions in 
the most favorable light; but with present facts and evi- 
dences, we have not the means of exonerating them from 
all departure from the rules of prudence; nor can we per- 
ceive, how the consequences can be avoided, unless they 
shall say, we were mistaken. 

The dread that has often been expressed, of the evils of 
elections, may now give place to a much greater one. The 
office as well as the officers, is now likely to be involved in 



136 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

the danger. Voting against the acts of the General Con- 
ference, instead of the men who acted, cannot fail to pro- 
duce a weak and wavering confidence in that body, if it 
does not destroy it altogether. It is well worthy of the most 
serious attention of the senior bishop, and those who act 
in concert with him, that the plan they are pursuing is a 
precedent favorable to the purposes of ambitious and artful 
bishops, who will have nothing to dread but the power of 
the General Conference. A bishop being elected for life, 
and being amenable to no other tribunal, can more readily 
and effectually destroy the influence of the General Con- 
ference, by dividing it among the annual conferences than 
by any other means. He can thus prevent new restrictions 
from being imposed upon himself, and corrupt his judges. 
Behold ! now the consequences of a precedent, and the 
little avail of the goodness of intention in those who pro- 
duced it. The oldest bishop set the example — the ice is 
broken — the minds of the preachers are familiarized with 
episcopal opposition to the General Conference, and pre- 
pared to co-operate. But it will be asked, if there be 
nothing to fear from the General Conference ? Why should 
those who elect its members, fear its power, when they can 
change them once in four years? If a fatal necessity were 
imposed upon the preachers to go to some extreme in this 
matter, it would be the safer one to give too much, rather 
than too little power to their delegates. The General Con- 
ference is not like the federal government of the United 
States, as soon as its session closes it ceases to be, and its 
statutes go into the hands of the annual conferences. Even 
the bishops, as has been made to appear, have no other re- 
sponsibility to the General Conference, but that of a crimi- 
nal to a judge, and of course, as their temptation to violate 
the laws increase, their regard for their judges must be 
weakened. The errors of the General Conference are pro- 
vided against, as far as they may respect the preachers, by 
a periodical election ; but how is the General Conference to 
correct the errors of the annual conferences ? By the bish- 
ops. How by them, if they form a coalition? Were the 
bishops subject to a re-election once in four years, then in- 
deed the General Conference might have some hold upon 
the skirts of their garments. 

In concluding this review it seems proper once more to 
admonish travelling preachers not to take the name of 
a constitution in vain. Their third restriction upon 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. \^f 

their delegates is one thing, and a constitution a very dif- 
ferent one. They maybe entreated, also, to have some re- 
gard to their own personal reputation, and the reputation of 
the common cause. A pompous display of powers and 
prerogatives, to which they are much prone, is only calcu- 
lated to make them objects of derision and contempt, among 
their fellow citizens. Lastly, it may be well to remind these 
sensitive brethren, who are so tremblingly alive to the en- 
croachments of their own delegates, to reflect a moment 
how those must feel who have neither elections nor dele- 
gates ! 

This review, it is to be hoped, will be deemed sufficient- 
ly moderate and temperate to convince those who detect 
its mistakes, that they were not intentional. 

Quorum pars fui. 



No. IS. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. December, 1S22, No. viii. page 295. 

The Reformer. 

Of all the unmutilated works of ancient art, the Apollo 
Belvidere is the most admired. This statue is said to be 
the production of Agasius of Ephesus. The Abbe Winkle- 
man, whose fine taste in the antique is so celebrated, gives 
it almost more than mortal praise. Those connossieurs who 
saw it while it remained at the Louvre, say that the imita- 
tions and drawings give no adequate idea of its beauties. 
The Apollo Belvidere, has no passions. No veins and 
muscles are visible. The artist has transfused the idea of 
life into the marble, without the aid of lungs, and nerves, 
and circulating blood. It is the masterly expression of this 
divine conception of vitality, which tempts even modern 
men of science to become idolaters. Now this is our con- 
ception of the character of a Reformer. He should have 
no passions. His whole soul should be animated not with 
heated blood ; nor the effervescence of a controversial 
temper; but in a kind of divine and heavenly manner, by 
an all vivifying love of truth. According to the conception 
of the Ephesian artist, his arms, his bow and arrows, should 
only be employed in destroying the amphibious serpent of 
error. 

12* 



138 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

The motto of the Repository should be, "not as though 
we had already obtained, or were already perfect ; but we 
iollow after, that we may apprehend." Among so great a 
number of writers, it would be strange indeed, if there were 
nothing human; no pets ; no paroxysms. But the travel- 
ling brethren say, that they dislike the spirit in which the 
work is conducted. The spirit in which most of the essays 
in the Repository are written, is professedly a discriminat- 
ing spirit. The intention and aim of the writers are to 
make a distinction between men's personal virtues, and 
the defects or excesses of their system. This is so very 
like the spirit of wisdom and impartiality, that it pleases us 
well, and we only regret that we have not more of it. We 
wish ever to cherish that spirit, which may enable us to see 
the faults of those we love, and our own too. We caught 
our first idea of a perfect Reformer from our own dear 
Wesley. The difference in the points to be reformed ought 
not, surely, to make any change in the spirit of those who 
take a part in this arduous work. Our leading object is, to 
reform or change the opinions of travelling preachers and 
others among us, respecting church government. Now, 
we desire to know whether it be possible to do this in such 
a spirit as will please those who endeavor to perpetuate 
existing opinions? What thanks did Wesley ever gain by 
refusing to separate from the Church of England ; or, rather, 
what censure and reproach did he not get? Is it not our 
spirit of courage which our brethren so greatly dislike ? Do 
they not begin to dread the introduction of this spirit into 
the sanctuary — the General Conference ? Certainly, the 
love of liberty, and the spirit of martyrdom, are not extin- 
guished in the bosoms of all our travelling preachers. No, 
we hope we know better things of them, and things which 
accompany a glorious independence of soul. If there are 
not found majorities in the annual conferences, at the next 
election, who spurn the idea of making laws for others 
without their consent, minorities will be found so weighty, 
as to make the boldest champions for supremacy pause and 
reflect. 

We felicitate the friends and patrons of the Repository, 
upon a growing disposition among its writers, to propagate 
or combat only principles, and to avoid as much as may be 
personalities ; and this disposition is the more pleasing, as 
it is spontaneous. It augurs well, when men in distant 
places, unknown to each other, and without any pre-con- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 139 

cert, see so nearly eye to eye. Let us go on, commending 
our love to our brethren, and giving praise where praise is 
due, at the very time we may be obliged to force the light of 
ecclesiastical liberty upon them against their will. We 
covet not the title of Reformers, but if it be given to us let 
us merit it. 

If the ruling men in our church shall be so devoid of 
political wisdom and discernment, as never to rise above 
the first conceptions of the Nimrods of the earth, upon the 
subject of government ; and all who feel or dread the iron 
yoke of despotism, can perceive no remedy but separation, 
our case will be deplorable indeed. To the faults of our 
system, as honest men, we must plead guilty ; and of course, 
as honest men, we are bound to use our endeavors to re- 
form or correct them. But it seems that our brethren es- 
teem us as enemies, because we tell them what we conceive 
to be the truth. this is grievous, but we must bear it ! 
Well we will give them a text, and let them try to convince 
us of our faults. — "And ourselves your servants for Jesus' 
sake." O no ! you are not our servants at all. We are 
your servants for the sake of your power. You are far 
above us; quite out of our reach. We cannot say to one 
of you come; or go; or do this; or that; and if we ask 
you to let us go with you, we are scorned and refused. 
brethren be not high minded, but fear! New attacks 
by those whom you excommunicate, or those who withdraw 
from you, will be made with redoubled violence upon your 
vulnerable side, your unbounded and undivided power. 
James II. when his affairs came to a crisis, asked old lord 
Russell, whose son he had caused to be beheaded, what 
could be done ? I once, said the old man, had a son who 
could have served you. Brethren, the time will come when 
you will need all the help you can obtain. 

Dokemasius. 



No. 19. 

Weslevan Repository, vol. ii. December, 1822, No. viii. page 299. 

Thoughts on the primitive manner of appointing and sup- 
porting Preachers. 

Humbly inscribed to the Episcopacy of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

"When I sent you forth without purse, or scrip, lacked 
ye any thing? And they said, nothing, Lord?" Mr. At- 



140 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

more tells us of one of the earliest of the English Metho- 
dist preachers, who continued to travel until he wore out 
all his clothes; but in those days it was customary for the 
stewards to ask the preachers if they needed any thing, 
&c. ; but none of them took the hint from his tattered 
garments, and it seems he had too much independence or 
diffidence to say as Socrates once did in the presence of 
his disciples: If I had the means, I would buy me a new 
cloak ; he was left to the alternative of going naked, or 
going in debt, and to jail, or to go to work and earn mo- 
ney. The story bears that he chose the latter ; and this 
Mr. Atmore would fain make out to be a great sin, with 
which the Lord was so displeased, that he punished him 
with the loss of the power and comfort of religion, and 
finally, with death in a prison sure enough. 

The stewards and the people, from all that appears to the 
contrary, suffered no such fearful punishment, though Mr. 
Atmore thinks, they were quite culpable. But where was 
Mr. Wesley all this while, who had appointed this man to 
preach, upon the principle that, if he did not help him as 
he directed, he should not help him at all? Why did he 
not ask whether he lacked any thing? If upon Mr. At- 
more's hypothesis, there must needs be sin in this business, 
is it not demonstrable that it lay at the door of the em- 
ployer ? Jesus Christ did not trust to stewards to ask this 
important question ; he asked it himself. If you labor 
among us, says our discipline, you must serve as a son in 
the gospel, and do that part of the work which we (the 
bishops) direct. But the bishops are not bound to ask the 
question, lacked ye any thing? Nor if all the travelling 
preachers go naked, or starve, or locate to earn food and 
raiment, are they in any wise responsible. No, indeed, 
who would be bishop upon such a condition ? If the ex- 
ample of the shepherd and bishop of our souls is to be re- 
garded, no man ought to take it upon himself, or to be ap- 
pointed by others, to send men to preach, without being 
bound to see that they are provided for. When men make 
pens for themselves, we ought not to be surprised if they 
leave a hole big enough to get out at. Let us suppose that 
the bishop should write a circular to the church to this ef- 
fect: "Brethren, you have made it my duty to station all 
the preachers, and they are bound to do that part of the 
work which I direct. I have asked all of them whether 
they lacked any thing, and I find that some of them have 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 141 

no clothes, and that their families are in a naked and starv- 
ing condition. Now, if you do not provide for them, or 
put means into my hands to do so, I must either resign my 
commission, or advise them to locate, &c. ; for, as a chris- 
tian bishop, I must be given to hospitality ; nay, as a man, 
I must be just and humane ; and it seems to me to be a 
violation of justice and humanity, for me to appoint men to 
work and leave them to live on the winds of heaven." 
Again, let us suppose that the church should answer this 
letter as follows : "Dear father, &c. your circular has been 
received and duly considered, and the result of all our in- 
quiry into the state of the case is, a clear and decisive proof 
that we have not had, and it is not intended that we shall 
ever have, any part, or lot in this matter. We neither made 
you bishop, nor can we unmake you. We gave you no 
power, nor can we take any away from you. The church 
whose name you and all travelling preachers derive your 
consequence from, is a mere name. If you can make our 
purses hear, without speaking through us to them, well and 
good ; but, if they are quite deaf to all your intreaties, let 
us come into your legislative councils, and we will repre- 
sent them, and hear for them, and speak for them. 

A Steward of the mammon of unrighteousness. 



No. 20. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. December, 1822, No. viii. page 309. 

Letters to a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
No. I. 

Dear Brother, 

It was a maxim, as you may recollect, of the founder 
of Methodism, that he loved to have, and to do, every thing 
openly : and a greater than he, had said long before him, 
that nothing should be kept secret, &c. So you see that 
your complaints against the writers for the Repository, are 
not altogether unanswerable ; as, they may plead precedent. 
Anonymous essays, in a periodical publication, involving 
men's lives and characters, would, 1 acknowledge, be infi- 
nitely improper ; and no less so, are censures upon charac- 
ters from the pulpit. Every man ought to know his accu- 
ser, and to have a proper tribunal before which to vindicate 
himself, and to produce his evidence. I am often scanda- 



142 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

lized at the facility with which some of our brethren receive 
the written, or verbal censures, which strangers circulate 
against those who have exercised discipline upon them 
hundreds of miles distant. But with matters of opinion, 
the case is different. All theoretical subjects can be as well 
discussed, perhaps better, without the knowledge of, or the 
presence of the writers, than with them. The book of dis- 
cipline, and our church government, are no secrets. We 
have no secrets to be revealed, like the initiated in ancient 
times, to whom our Lord probably alluded. And we attach 
no infallibility to our General Conference. 

As for what you say of the venerable men to whom we 
look up as fathers and founders, as they thought proper to 
abandon all theories, and to establish our church polity 
upon the summary process of "I will and you shall;" it 
does not seem to me, that the shadow of any great name, 
or any lapse of time, or accumulation of patronage, can 
entitle them, on this account, in an age distinguished for 
political science, to much deference. Men, who, instead 
of governing upon principle, thought proper to be governed 
by circumstances, and the resources of their own genius, 
can claim little right to establish precedents. Nothing is 
more notorious than our propensity, from the beginning, to 
appeal to our success, rather than to abstract reasons for 
our vindication. And every body knows that the success 
of all the great conquerors of the earth, is the charter of 
their successors. It. is, indeed, beyond all doubt, that any 
leader, in church or state, with absolute authority, can do 
more than if he were fettered by system ; and yet, it is a 
universally admitted fact, that no governments are so liable 
to sink under their own weight, as absolute ones. The an- 
cient Romans had their temporary dictators in the emer- 
gencies of the state ; but, when the dictatorship became 
perpetual, their liberties were lost forever. 

Mr. A. I know, was as sincere as he was indefatigable in 
his endeavors to make the hierarchy independent on the 
people; but he was my father, and we agreed to disagree. 
It was always a mystery to me, how a man of his great 
reading and penetrating views of men and things, could so 
entirely lose sight of the danger of an unbalanced govern* 
ment. Of the ability of Mr. Wesley to govern, no one has 
a more exalted opinion than myself; but, who will say that 
his system was the best that could have been devised ? Mr. 
Locke understood the science of government much better 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 143 

than Mr. W. ; though the latter had the benefit of the wri- 
tings of the former. Upon the maxim, "Necessity is the 
mother of invention," it might be argued, that men of the 
greatest talents for governing, would be less apt to invent 
or make discoveries in the science, than others of fewer 
resources in themselves. I can never be brought to believe 
that it argues any extraordinary sagacity in men, to take for 
themselves and their successors, as much power to do good 
as is possible, without any regard to the power which it 
would give them to do evil. Nothing is more evident, than 
that this latter object never entered into the plans of our 
predecessors. To this day, it makes no part of our disci- 
pline. Travelling preachers have no check from any body, 
but themselves. Yours, &c. 

P.P. 



No. 21. 

Wesleyan Repository vol. ii. December, 1822. No. viii. page 314. 

The Addresses contrasted: 1st — To the Representatives of 
the Preachers only. %nd — T> the Delegates of the Preach- 
ers and Members. By the Presidents of the General Con- 
ferences. 

To the Delegates of the Travelling Preachers, and thoee Preachers who only travel 
from one station to another, once in two years. 

Dear Brethren, 

You are now assembled in General Conference to re- 
present all the travelling preachers in full connexion on this 
vast continent, and of course all the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. This being "the order which God hath established 
in his church;"* it behooves you to beware of "those 
restless spirits, prompted by pride and vain conceit of their 
own abilities, who rebel against the order God hath estab- 
lished, and thus rebel against GOD."t In the blessed times 
of priestly supremacy in Europe, that pious land of our 
forefathers, under the christian emperors of Rome, both in 
the west and in the east, and likewise under its modern so- 
vereigns and governments, those "ministers whom God 
selected to be the shepherds of his flock, and the guardians 
of his people, possessing the right of governing themselvei 

•See "Vindication of Methodist Episcopacy." 
t Ibid. 



144 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

in religious matters, and all those committed to their care,"* 
had the means of punishing all the "people, who were 
bound to submit to their authority in all matters of church 
government and discipline"! if they rebelled ; but in this 
land, our civil rulers suffer those "restless spirits" to "re- 
bel" against us with impunity. Thus, brethren, you see, 
that though we claim a divine and indefeasible right, to 
govern christians without their consent, as well as the Pope, 
and our other predecessors, yet there is no secular arm in 
this country to punish "rebels" against the domination of 
preachers, but they must be left to "receive their own pun- 
ishment, "t I mention these things, lest in your zeal to 
emulate holy priests, whether Roman or Reformed, you 
might forget that circumstances alter cases, and begin to 
wield those spiritual thunders which used to strike so much 
terror into the hearts of the "proud and vain conceited of 
their own abilities." Bear it in mind, then, brethren, that 
there is not in the political elements of this country, elec- 
tricity enough to give effect to spiritual thunder; but that 
it dies like a harmless sound upon the lips of those who 
utter it. We may therefore spare this useless breath, while 
with a tenacity worthy of the successors of those who have 
claimed undivided power over the church in every age, we 
refuse to give up one jot or tittle of it into the hands of the 
christians. 

The President. 



Address to the Delegates of the Ministers and Members of 
the Church. 

Dear Brethren, 

Permit me on this occasion to congratulate you on the 
continuance of our civil and religious rights and privileges. 
This day we can not only join in the Te Deum, and sing, 
"the noble army of martyrs praise thee," but we their 
children praise thee ! Brethren, I hail you as the children 
of the martyrs. 

If aught beneath them, happy souls attend, 

let them look down from their blessed abodes, and witness 
the glorious fruits of their blood among us, who sit together 
in this mansion of liberty and love. If we cannot realize 

*See "Vindication of Methodist Episcopacy." 
t Ibid. 1 Ibid. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 145 

the wish of Moses, that all the Lord's people were pro- 
phets, they are all legislators ! all kings ! Jesus Christ 
hath made them free indeed ! To those delegates who 
sustain the ministerial character, and through them to their 
brethren, whom they represent, I feel constrained to say 
well done ! You have, my brethren, the proofs around you, 
that you are the dispensers of power, not the monopoliz- 
ers. God be praised,. that you have these witnesses to de- 
monstrate that you have taught the brethren liberty, and 
not to use liberty as an occasion to the flesh. Your con- 
verts are not in bondage to you, nor are they converts of 
licentiousness and anarchy, but of law and order. These 
delegates of the church, who sit on this floor upon a foot- 
ing of legislative equality with you, enjoying a power you 
have voluntarily surrendered to them, will vindicate you 
from all charges of priestly ambition and love of domina- 
tion, and inspire the public mind with a confidence in your 
regard for religious liberty, which shall go on increasing as 
long as the church continues to be represented. 

Christian delegates, your ministerial brethren are Chris- 
tians in common with you, and as such you might represent 
each other's interest reciprocally ; but they have an office 
which you cannot fully represent, and as this office exposes 
them to a temptation to make your interests subservient to 
theirs, they cannot safely be trusted on all occasions, and 
under all circumstances, to represent you. Your constitu- 
ents have rights and privileges which they cannot alienate 
or transfer to others. So long as by-laws and rules are ne- 
cessary for the government of a church, (and they must not 
contravene the principles laid down in the New Testament) 
and so long as religious liberties may be jeopardised by 
those who shall make those by-laws and rules, so long will 
the church be sacredly bound to hold its law-makers respon- 
sible to itself. You see, then, what an important trust is 
committed to you, and how great is your responsibility. 
You are the natural guardians of the liberties of your 
brethren; as all the laws to which you here assent, must 
act upon yourselves, and it is fairly presumed that you will 
not make laws to injure your own selves. The case is dif- 
ferent with your ministers, if you should leave the power 
in their hands, they might oppress you with heavy burdens 
and grievous to be borne, without touching them with one 
of their fingers. There have not been wanting those, who 
say that the church has neither ability, nor disposition to 
13 



146 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

take care of its own rights, and therefore it is a matter of 
necessity, that the ministry should do this work for them. 
You have now an opportunity to prove the truth or the 
falsehood of this charge, as far as it respects yourselves ; 
and, I trust, brethren, that you will shew to them, and to 
the world, that you are neither wanting in wisdom nor in 
will, to take care of this inestimable treasure, which next 
to the gospel of the grace of God, ought to be dear to every 
good man's heart. 

And now, brethren, in order that I may fulfil the import- 
ant duties assigned me, as the president of this deliberative 
body, rules and orders must be strictly and religiously re- 
garded. We must all be bound by them. 1 now entreat 
you while we are cool, to coerce the chair by them, if in 
the heat of debate, it forgets what is due to impartiality. 

The President. 



No. 23. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. December, 1822, No. viii. page 316. 

Thoughts on serving Two Masters. 

"No man can serve two masters" &c. To most of our 
local preachers it has been matter of surprise, that the 
members of our church should, in many instances, manifest 
not only indifference toward their order, but something like 
contempt and hatred also. They do not consider that the 
travelling preachers are the actual masters of the church ; 
and that the members of the church are so conscious of 
this, that they naturally associate the idea of two masters 
with the two orders, itinerant and local ; and in so far as 
they hold to the former. they will despise the latter. Now, 
if it is really a fact that the local preachers have the same 
notion of ministerial prerogative, upon which the govern- 
ment of our church is founded, they are indeed only ano- 
ther race of masters ; and if the members of the church 
should by any means come to love them, the travelling 
preachers would have to take their place. It behooves all 
the local preachers deeply to consider this point. Every 
man among them who defends the divine right of preachers 
to make laws for the church, and to govern it without its 
consent, is a master of the church in principle, and ought 
to be regarded by the members of the church as such. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 147 

It is a duty, therefore, which those local preachers who 
hold to the rights of the church, owe to themselves and 
their brethren, to avow their principles, as they have no 
other way of extricating themselves from this dilemma of 
two masters. 

It is a curious and interesting fact, in the history of all 
absolute governments, that though they are more subject 
to convulsions and revolutions than any other, yet the 
people are never benefited, they only experience a change 
of masters. The members of our church would gain no- 
thing by substituting local rulers of the same principles as 
the travelling ones, in their place ; they would only forsake 
the one and hold to the other. It behooves our local 
preachers, to a man, to imbibe just and liberal views of 
church government, and to let it be known that it is unjust 
and cruel in the members of the church, to consider them 
in the light of would-be masters. They will thus not only 
rescue themselves from the odium of the members, but the 
jealousy of the travelling preachers likewise, who are, in 
many instances, under the most fearful apprehension of 
putting power into their hands. They ought to say to these 
monopolisers of power, brethren we do not want your 
power, we will not have it ; it belongs to the church in 
common with us, and God forbid that we should covet what 
is another man's due. 

Local preachers have been a kind of scape goats : the 
travelling preachers and the people have, in some sense, 
visited their mutual faults upon their heads. If the head 
goes wrong the tail can never go right. One of the de- 
plorable effects of power is, that those who feel oppressed 
by it, without resisting it, have a strong propensity, gene- 
rated by it, to oppress others. One of this humble order 
used to call himself, "Jack at a pinch." But Mr. Asbury 
had no such contemptible opinion of them ; he would ear- 
nestly and emphatically say in the annual conferences, that 
they were the body guards of our cause. One thing is cer- 
tain, that where travelling preachers are not numerous 
enough to be in effect local, our members have but mighty 
little preaching, unless they have local preachers to give 
them Sabbath preaching, and the great body of the people 
hear no Methodist preaching at all. 

A Local Preacher. 



148 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

TSo. 23. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. January, 1823, No. ix. page 339. 

Letters to a Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church No. II. 

Dear Brother — I have intimated that those founders 
and leaders of sects, who resort to undivided and unquali- 
fied power, display no extraordinary wisdom or foresight; 
and of course, do not entitle themselves, in this respect, to 
the admiration, or the imitation of their successors. Among 
those tribes of men which approach nearest to a state of 
nature, while the natural love of liberty is but little control- 
led by education and circumstances, power is not artificially 
divided ; but, in order to obviate its effects, it is made 
temporary; and when the common danger is past, be- 
comes in a great degree nominal. But in the earlier stages 
of civilization, when the weaker tribes are subjugated by 
the stronger, power is rendered perpetual, and as arbitrary 
in peace as in war. That some great men, and a few good 
ones, have held the reigns of absolute sovereignty, is unde- 
niable ; but, that their wisdom and virtue died with them 
is equally so; for, their ignorant and vicious successors, 
found no principles to hold them in check. If the worst 
man in the world could be hypocritical enough to secure 
to himself the episcopal office over us, he would find the 
way plain, and the paths made straight, for the operations of 
despotism. The dead lions, the Wesleys and Asburys, 
would be no impediment in the way of those living dogs. 
Their journals, to be sure, would tell pretty stories of their 
labours and sufferings, and humility, and self denial, and 
how they conscientiously used power, as they thought, with- 
out abusing it; but, what would a tyrant, in principle and 
inclination, care about journals. Even the dumb heads, 
who have been religiously bound, never to whisper any 
thing like "Hitherto shalt thou come and no further," would 
perhaps begin to stare with amazement to find that from the 
Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, there is not one single 
fence or barrier to a wicked bishop's power to do mischief. 

No one can donbt, but that, if the state governments in 
this union had been destroyed, and all power lodged in the 
hands of one undivided sovereignty, power might be made 
to act more efficaciously in given cases; but will any body 
say, that such an indivisibility, would have most effectually 
secured our civil liberties? The wisdom of our statesmen 
has been displayed in fabricating a general government, to 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 149 

bind and unite all the individual states and citizens, without 
infringing upon the liberties of either. I can conceive of 
no higher effort of political wisdom than this; it approach- 
es nearer to the godlike, than any other with which I am 
acquainted. What kind of legacy Mr. Wesley would have 
left to the American Methodists, had the travelling preach- 
ers continued, to the day of his death, to have obsequiously 
followed his will, it is not in our power to say, we only know 
that he could not possibly have left them more completely 
in the power of the General Conference and the bishops 
than they are at present. You must pardon me, my bro- 
ther, if I do not father our perpetual ministerial supremacy 
upon Mr. Wesley. Though I have not the most exalted 
idea of his foresight, as a universal legislator, (with his En- 
glish plans I have nothing to do,) yet, I am inclined to 
think, that if there had been wisdom and inclination enough 
in the men in power in this country, to have opened and 
maintained an official correspondence with him, upon the 
nature of our political institutions, and our civil and reli- 
gious predilections, the venerable man would have yielded, 
at least a silent consent, to a church legislation among us. 
I never reflect upon the chapter in our history, which relates 
to the formation of our church, without feeling it in my 
heart, for the sake of those concerned, to wish that it were 
blotted out. It is a most mortifying monument of the want 
diplomatical ingenuity. An old preacher used to make him- 
self merry with the case of the messenger, who was, "sent 
like an arrow through the south," to call the preachers to 
conference in Baltimore. The occasion had certainly no- 
thing in it to require bustle or haste. No time was left to 
think. If it had been a time of war, matters could scarcely 
have been hurried on faster to repel an invasion. And yet 
all this would have been tolerable, if it had been only a be- 
ginning, and a suitable preparation had been made for the 
reception of after thoughts ; but, it seems, that nearly forty 
years of experience have shed no additional rays of wisdom 
over our legislative councils. No idea which relates to the 
dividing and balancing of power, can find any admission 
into our General Conference. The motto upon the door of 
this temple still is, "or Caesar or nothing." Would to God 
that it might be changed for "My brethren, be not many mas~ 
ters. But, really, my friend, if I could be influenced by 
your implied advice, to call any man master, I should make 
my selection under the imposing aspect of that profound 
13* 



150 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

wisdom which pervades systems, and penetrates into futurity. 
Why should we have a master to teach us to cut the Gordian 
knot? We do not want a Wesley or an Asbury, to tell us 
that travelling preachers can do no wrong, but wisdom to 
teach us how to prevent them from doing wrong ; or, to 
correct their errors. I venerate the memory of those men, 
and all good men, for the good they have done by their 
public labors, as well as for their personal worth ; but it 
would be unjust to praise them for what they left undone, 
and unjust to ourselves not to try to remedy what they did 
wrong. It is no pleasant task to me, to point out the de- 
fects in the church polity of our fathers, or to rouse and 
animate our contemporaries to supply their lack of service; 
and the labour is rendered doubly disagreeable from the 
liability to which it exposes me of losing the affections of my 
friends through a misapprehension of my motives. Already, 
I perceive that some of them begin to look strange. "Aris- 
totle loves Plato, but he loves truth better than 
Plato." 

If it is certainly possible, in any case in this world, it is cer- 
tainly right, to contend upon principle for church representa- 
tion, and of course legislation. On the subject of executive 
power, a difference of opinion may perhaps be harmlessly 
indulged; for, while the legislative power is participated in 
by the church, and the right of trial to the members by their 
peers remains, these points can be corrected by time and 
experience. 

Yours, &c. P, P. 



No. 24. 

Western Repository, vol. ii. January, 1823, No. ix. page 355. 

An Appendix to "i Review, fyc. upon the presiding elder 
question."* (See page 257 of this Vol.) 

Contrary to our usual custom, in our review, we gave 
praise to living characters ; but we beg the reader to con- 
sider, that the review was written in anticipation of a time 
when the transactions alluded to may be employed as pre- 

*This paper was intended, by the author, to have been published in 
No. VIII, but was not received by the editor in time for insertion in 
that number. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 151 

cedents, and the active agents shall have finished their mor» 
tal course. A speaker then, might employ in substance the 
contents of the review; but with how little effect, when op- 
posed by precedents which shall have become venerable 
through age, is easily to be foreseen. If any thing could 
have an effect in such a crisis, it must be an appeal to some 
coeval production. In General Conference some one might 
then say — "The opinions and acts of two distinguished 
members of the General Conference of 1820, have been 
produced as precedents, &c. ; but I hold in my hand, Mr. 
president, an essay of a contemporary writer who predicted 
this very consequence, and I refer to him with peculiar sa- 
tisfaction, as it is evident that he was actuated by no 
prejudice against those venerable men. It is to be regret- 
ted, sir, that we have not been in the habit of employing 
stenographers to take down the debates in our General Con- 
ference; for the want of them, we are deprived forever 
of those able speeches to which this writer alludes, and 
which, possibly, contained facts and arguments sufficient to 
put this question at rest; but, sir, without wasting time in 
idle regrets, by the aid of this review, I shall be able to rub 
off the rust of age from these precedents, and to convince 
you that they have gained their influence and authority from 
the mysterious obscurity which time has spread over them. 
A writer who had the candor to give the then bishop elect, 
and the senior bishop credit for the rectitude and purity of 
their intentions, had the courage also to point out what he 
conceived to be dangerous as precedents, in that part of 
their proceedings which related to a decision of the Gene- 
ral Conference, commonly known by the name of "the con- 
ciliation." Of the soundness of his logic, and the correct- 
ness of his foresight, tthis debate has afforded the most 
abundant proof. It has come to pass, as the writer foresaw, 
that the General Conference is to have an episcopal veto 
held over it in terror em. Be the question what it may, the 
bishops, like the tribunes of the people in the Roman sen- 
ate, will only have to say, "I forbid it" and there the mat- 
ter must end. Doubtless they will forbid us to meddle with 
all matters touching their own prerogatives. Would it not 
be well for them, like the Roman tribunes, to be chosen by 
the people, and be obliged to act unanimously, before they 
can exercise their veto, &c. &c." We felt the delicacy of 
the case very sensibly, when we were about to designate 
two men by title ; but, as we were writing with an eye to 



152 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

futurity, we conceived, that if our fears were not realized, no 
evil consequences could follow to their memories. On the 
contrary, should our apprehensions ever be verified, we 
might render to them, as well as the cause, an essential 
service ; for we might thus correct an evil by anticipation. 
We were not present when the protest, (if we may call it 
so,) against the conciliation was entered. Having witness- 
ed that interesting scene, (the vote of a large majority in 
favor of the conciliation plan,) we left the Conference with 
joyful emotions of heart. We were afterwards told, that 
the bishop elect expressed, in a note to the bishops, his 
conscientious scruples about carrying the rule into effect, 
as he considered it to be an infringement of the third re- 
striction ; and, that the senior bishop did the same, but in 
a manner more full and circumstantial, before the Confer- 
ence. Whereupon, the friends of the conciliation delivered 
some very able speeches, and that one of the speakers in 
particular, was quite eloquent in his regrets and complaints 
respecting the course which had been pursued ; he con- 
ceived, that the Episcopal objections ought to have been 
made before the question was decided, &c. This we en- 
deavored to account for in the review, by supposing that 
the result was not expected, &c. 

The review was intended to embrace all we meant to 
say on the presiding elder question ; and we hope, that 
this additional explanation will be sufficient to enable our 
readers to identify the point on which we think the Disci- 
pline is silent. We never meant to involve any other parts 
of the public administration of these brethren, either by 
design or accident, no matter which. The discipline, as we 
think, and indeed are fully persuaded, gives no power to 
the bishops over the acts of the General Conference. We 
have always considered that body as head over the bishops. 

Quorum Pars Fui. 



No. 25. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. January 1823, No. ix. page 356. 

The Arch Bishop. — An Essay humbly inscribed to Travelling 
Preachers. 

It is no less instructive than amusing, to observe the ex- 
periments of chymists upon the different Gases, particu- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 153 

larly those which are lighter and heavier than common at- 
mosphere. A vial filled with a lighter gas. will retain its 
contents bottom upwards, though the mouth be unstopped; 
and one with the mouth open will retain a heavier gas 
though standing on its bottom. Would it not be very de- 
sirable for ecclesiastical legislators to have some test by 
which to ascertain what kind of gas or spirit belongs to 
each particular system of church government, that they 
might regulate the container accordingly ? It is manifest, 
that if, in any case, the ruling spirit should be ligher than 
the common spirit, it will escape, unless the vessel is turned 
bottom upwards, or stopped tight. 

We think that we have ascertained, that the spirit of a 
hierarchy is the lightest of all the gases : and, of course, has 
the strongest tendency to ascend ; and that if as much 
of it could be collected as would fill a balloon, like a bal- 
loon it could only be kept down by the strongest cords. It 
was upon this hypothesis that we confidently anticipated, 
that as soon as we should have more bishops than one, a 
strong tendency to an archbishoprick would manifest itself; 
and, that if our ecclesiastical chymists were ignorant of, or 
inattentive to this circumstance, and neglected to stop the 
container, the hierarchy would soon ascend above their reach 
and control. We have speculated pretty freely upon these 
matters. The most obvious means to introduce the office 
of archbishop, it seems to us, is by assumption. If a bishop 
should chance to have age and experience enough to give 
countenance to the attempt, he might establish a precedent. 
The transition from the fact to the law, would not be great. 
Opposition itself might facilitate the event; for, if one or 
more bishops should happen to have courage enough to as- 
sert and maintain independence, the next General Confer- 
ence might be induced to give one the precedence, in 
order to prevent future jarring. Or it may be done thus, 
two or more might agree who should have the first honor, 
and to take it in succession, and thus pay themselves upon 
the application of the maxim, before honor is humility. An 
hundred stratagems could be devised to hoodwink the 
General Conference. If travelling preachers, in their le- 
gislative capacity, proceed upon the plan of exerting their 
powers to raise feathers and to sink lead, they cannot fail 
to drive all matters to extremities. But who can foresee 
into what errors and absurdities party spirit may not betray 
men ? For our part, we are fully persuaded that the germs 



154 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

of the most boundless ambition are inherent in our system ; 
and, that without an active, resolute, and intelligent spirit 
on the part of our legislators, power will soon mount high 
over their heads. 

We hope that our prediction will not secure its own ac- 
complishment ; but really, our presentiment is that be- 
fore the middle of the present century, a motion will be in- 
troduced into the General Conference, in effect, to make 
an archbishop, and that party spirit will run high enough 
to cause it to pass to a second reading. But then, and in 
that case, what shall we do with our constitution ? Why, 
no difficulty can grow out of that, as there is nothing in it 
to prevent the spirit from ascending; the vial is unstopped. 
He might, indeed, be humbly and respectfully invited to at- 
tend annual conferences, as his business or health might 
permit; but, as necessity is the mother of discovery, as well 
as of invention, the details might be left to experience. In 
the mean time, while the subaltern bishops could have their 
work so distributed to them, as to leave the superintendency 
itinerant and general enough, to satisfy the letter of the 
Discipline, &c. 

Anticipator. 



No. 2G. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. January 1823, No. ix. page 358. 

Thoughts on the Freedom of the Press and of Speech. 

"Woe unto you when all men speak well of you." It 
was not until lately that we entered into the spirit of this 
maxim. The circumstance which first led to the present 
turn of thought was this. A preacher once stood pre- 
eminent among us, and secured to himself the applause of 
every body, particularly for the meekness and sweetness of 
his temper. In process of time it came to pass that a train 
of cross questioning between him and his brethren, dis- 
closed an unusual degree of unkindly feeling on his part. 
He seemed, as Mr. Rhodda used to say, "to lose all his 
sweetness." Could it have been possible, said I to myself, 
that so much gentleness and amiableness were affected? 
Was this man a hypocrite, or has flattery spoiled him? 
This latter supposition may be true ; He of whom all men 
speak well, must needs be flattered, and this idea may be 
embraced in our Lord's saying, "woe unto you," &c. ; as 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 155 

though he had said ye cannot bear flattery ; it will pervert 
your understandings and spoil your tempers. It will 
make you selfish, positive, impatient of contradiction, 
peevish, and ill-natured. But if this conception is em- 
braced in the maxim, it has a bearing upon the freedom of 
the pen, the press, and of speech, and has been offended 
against by those clergymen who have procured the enact- 
ment of laws to coerce their enemies into silence. The in- 
quisition, it cannot be doubted, was productive of unbounded 
flattery to the clergy in the countries where it was establish- 
ed. By destroying the liberty of the press and of speech, 
one of the fountains of blessing is dried up, and those who 
instigate the measure, entail upon themselves the woe de- 
nounced against the false prophets. 

The whole passage may be considered as a proof that 
our Lord needed not to be told what was in man, because 
he knew the hearts of all men. He foresaw that his disci- 
ples would be exposed to the opposite extremes of adula- 
tion and hatred ; and that the natural and inherent love of 
praise would prompt them not only to seek applause, but 
when it might be in their power, to extort it, without being 
subjected to the necessity of deserving it. Power will be 
flattered, and wealth will be flattered, and parts and talents 
will have more than silent admirers. But flattery is like 
ardent spirits, it stimulates and intoxicates the brain. When 
its inebriating fumes have been frequently applied, the mind 
hankers for it, as the drunkard does for his bottle, and be- 
comes impatient and even furious under the privation. 
Here and there a head may be found strong enough to bear 
a little flattery, but no one can bear it constantly : woe unto 
you when all men speak well of you. The Pope, or the Ro- 
mish clergy, or as he or they, or both are wont to call them- 
selves, "the church;" frlsified their claim to infallibility 
when they procured laws to be made to terrify their ene- 
mies into silence, and to encourage and reward their flat- 
terers. Is it not a matter of wonder, that writers of high 
pretensions to philosophy, should emblazon the crimes of 
priests, as though there were something in the office which 
alters the nature of man. For ourselves, we always have 
believed that they were men of like passions, and that they 
are affected and influenced by physical and moral laws in 
the same manner as other men. What cause then, has 
contributed in a peculiar manner to spoil and corrupt priests ? 
Flattery. They did not take the warning, and the woe was 



156 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

fulfilled. Their heads grew giddy, and their hearts corrupt, 
amidst the surrounding smoke of that incense which they 
had helped to kindle. What every body said, they were 
not slow of heart to believe must be true ; not reflecting 
that they were listening to the echo of their own voice. 

Make no laws, procure none to be made against the 
tongue and the pen, leave your fellow men at liberty to say 
and publish what they will. The servant is not above his 
Lord. Consider, ye clergy, what a contradiction of sin- 
ners he bore against himself How is it that ye cannot un- 
derstand this saying, blessed are ye when men shall revile 
you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against 
you falsely for my sake ? Could you but see how much 
humbling and mortifying human nature requires, how much 
crossing and contradiction, to keep the mind sober, then 
would you know the meaning both of the woe and of the 
blessing. 

One of the precautions which the founder of Methodism 
used to give to the preachers was, to beware, above all 
things, of that deadly poison, flattery. His remarks on this 
subject, are well worthy the attention of every Methodist 
preacher; bat why strain out a gnat and swallow a camel? 
Elders beware; presiding elders beware; bishops beware 
of that policy which tends to surround you with flatterers. 
In effect, all men will speak well of you when your mea- 
sures are so taken as to prevent you from hearing those who 
would speak otherwise, if they speak at all. This supre- 
macy of ours, is a chip of the old block. Truth, they say, 
cannot penetrate to the ears of kings. All men will speak 
well of the General Conference, in the General Conference. 
All men will speak well of bishops, while they are station- 
ing the preachers. How simple and obvious are the means 
to secure the hearing of only one side. Let there be no 
elections; they are rude, blunt, uncourtly things, but little 
given to flatter men in power; besides they lead to elec- 
tioneering; and of all the means in the world to take off 
the woe of flattery, none can be compared to those. 

The effects of flattery upon children are well known ; but 
we never outgrow this infirmity ; it grows with our growth, 
and strengthens with our strength. It is flattery which is 
the bane of absolute monarchs. It is this deceitful demon 
which has betrayed with a kiss so many of our young and 
our old preachers. ye professors of religion, be cautious 
how you flatter your preachers; and ye preachers, be cau- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 157 

tious how ye flatter your bishops; have compassion upon 
these men; consider that they are on the pinnacle of the 
temple, and that if their heads should chance to grow giddy 
with the sweet fumes of praise, they may lose their equi- 
poise, and if they fall from such a height must be inevitably 
dashed to pieces. 

Dokemasius. 



No. 27. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol- li. February, 1823, No. ix. page 366. 

Letters to a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
No. III. 

A crude and stale opinion, which existed among the 
preachers, something like "might is right," or we have a 
right to govern those we convert, as well as those we con- 
quer, is now vamped up, and put forth under the imposing 
title of "A Vindication of Methodist Episcopacy /" Now, we 
know that the apostles were Jews, and that their political 
opinions must needs have been considerably modified by 
Grecian principles. Tarsus was a Grecian city, and the 
Greeks maintained their power in Palestine in a greater or 
less degree, from the time of Alexander until the conquest 
of the Romans. To say nothing of apostolic inspiration, 
can it be supposed that these Jews, one of whom was a tho- 
rough bred scholar, well versed in the writings of the Greeks 
who speculated more subtlely upon the science of govern- 
ment than any other people, took the short cut of undivided 
power, and set themselves up in authority as absolutely as 
eastern despots? No; it is impossible to come to this con- 
clusion by any logical inference. Not to insist upon the 
public odium which such an assumption would have brought 
upon them, it appears on the very face of their history, that 
it was with much difficulty that they could maintain an 
equality with their competitors. The Jewish converts made 
no ceremony in opposing Peter and Paul: witness the 
case of the conversion of Cornelius, in which Peter was 
immediately taken to task for going in to men uncircum- 
cised, &,c, and almost all the epistles of Paul, in which he 
is under the necessity of asserting and proving his apostle- 
ship, in opposition to those who denied it. The contests 
of the apostles, and particularly of St. Paul, which 
our itinerant brethren are so fond of enlisting in their be- 
14 



158 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

half, when their right to legislate for the church is question* 
ed by any of its members, is altogether inapplicable to the 
case. His controversy was with rival teachers of rival doc- 
trines. "For, though, (says he to the Corinthians, among 
whom his apostleship was most violently opposed,) ye have 
ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many 
fathers : for in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through 
the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of 
me," and not of those rival instructers. I have heard ordi- 
nation sermons preached by our episcopacy, from the eighth 
to the thirteenth verse inclusive, of this IV, chapter of 1 
Corinthians, but it always seemed to me that the text was 
no wise calculated to prove the legislative supremacy of our 
travelling elders over our church. And I am very slow of 
heart to believe, that when this same apostle speaks of the 
care of all the churches which came upon him daily, he 
meant to express the feverish ambition of his soul to retain 
the power to legislate for them without their consent. 

Yours, fee. P. P. 

LETTER IV. 

Dear brother. — What you say respecting the influence 
of the Repository, may be true in part. That some, both 
in and out of the church, will be scandalized at the expose 
of our polity, there can be no doubt. But I beg of you to 
reflect well upon the demonstration which modern history 
has given of the value, as well as verity, of the scripture 
maxim, " Let the righteous smite me friendly." The Ro- 
mish church would suffer none of its members to call in 
question its infallibility. What was the consequence? We 
have all witnessed it. The infidels took them in hand, and 
gave them a wound not skin deep, but to the heart. The 
thing is as fixed as fate, if this collossal power is not modi- 
fied, it must fall to ruins. Now, in my judgment, is the 
most proper time to investigate principles. We are neither 
too young nor too crazy. Nobody I hope is yet driven to 
despair. Wavering confidence may yet be established by 
unconstrained measures. When the church and the world 
shall know that Ihe great principle of the right of suffrage 
is recognized as the polar-star of our preachers, and that 
whenever the church think proper, they may exert it in their 
own behalf, our cause will be safe from internal fermentation 
and external injuries. The difficulties of church represen- 
tation lies more in principle than in practice. I say to a 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 159 

travelling preacher, out of thine own mouth will I condemn 
thee — If, as you say, a church delegation is really impracti- 
cable, then you have nothing to apprehend from an avowal 
of the principle. What would be safer in all events, than 
for the General Conference to make a provision that the 
number of church delegates should be returned to the an- 
nual conferences, — that they might fill up the vacancies in 
the usual way, or leave it optional with the church to 
choose its own members, or local, or travelling preachers. 
But you are afraid of elections. So am not I. 

As for your concern, lest our venerable and laborious 
brethren should be relieved from any portion of their bur- 
den of office, I incline to think it has more of kindness than 
mercy in it. Mr. A, when a motion was once made in 
General Conference to relieve the bishops from the over- 
sight of the temporalities, came forward and approved the 
motion, but the conference refused to unbrace it from his 
back; and so his successors go on, bowed down between 
the two burdens, the spirituals and the temporals; my bles- 
sing go with them, since they are afraid to receive it in the 
General Conference. 

Yours, &c. P. P. 



Here the address to the senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, by Cincinnatus, commences — (It is about the election of pre- 
siding elders.) 



No. as, 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. February, 1823, No. x. page 377. 

The Cap Sheaf. 

"Put all your black coats and blue coats together, and 
see if that can beat that." The quotations from the "Vindi- 
cation," in the Repository, No. VII. p. 262, shew the ten- 
dency of principles to generate identical ideas and lan- 
guage. The word church, it seems, among all suprematists, 
has at least two meanings. Among the Romanists, it is 
employed in the same convertible and equivocal manner, as 
it is in the quotations made by the Reviewer from B's hook. 
Such a play upon words we have had occasion to observe, is 
becoming fashionable among us. "The rules by which 
the Methodist Episcopal Church governs its mem- 



160 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

bers :" "The equitable manner in which the members 
of OUR CHURCH are dealt with:" "What more 
privileges ANY PEOPLE can desire:" are phrases 
which would not disgrace the pen of the secretary of 
the Roman Chancery. Mr. B is a man of sense, and 
learning, and an author by profession ; and, we trust, he is 
also both an honest writer and an honest minister. How is it 
then, that he could employ this Popish slang! The sin, we 
think, lies at the door of his "high church" principles. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church is, or, ought to be, "a 
body of faithful men." The GOVERNORS of the Me- 
thodist Episcopal Church are a body of Itinerant 
Preachers, Elders and Bishops; who, by a misnomer, 
call themselves, " THE CHURCH " ! ! ! This, we think 
caps the climax. 

When American ears can be reconciled to such language, 
what will they be shocked at? There must be something 
strangely unnatural in ecclesiastical supremacy that leads 
men to affect the very names of the things which they most 
despise. Kings never call themselves the people; but the 
head of the church styles himself, "SERVANT OF 
SERVANTS;" and our Divines call themselves "THE 
CHURCH ! " 

We have a word to add about "privilege." In the Gen- 
eral Conference which established, or rather, intended to es- 
tablish the mode of trial by jury, it became a question, 
whether a jury had a right to judge of law, as well as of 
fact? The opinion of Dr. Coke was, that they had the right 
in both cases ; which he supported by a reference to the de- 
cision of the British court in certain (then) recent state trials. 
Now mark the consequence: If the court and the jury 
should chance to differ in opinion on a point of law, the 
court, that is, the preacher, can appeal to the quarterly 
meeting conference, who are certainly not jurymen, nor peers, 
but officers of the preachers' own making. "Any people 
can desire" that the "privilege" of trial by jury should be 
more practically accordant to the spirit of the original in- 
stitution of juries. We do desire to see our right to be 
judged by our pekrs, placed quite above the caprice, 
or the control of travelling preachers. 

Consistency, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 161 

IVo. 29. 

Wesleyan Repository vol. ii. January, 1823. No. x. page 383. 

The Church and the Apostles. 

It has been recommended by certain writers, that in or- 
der to test the truth or beauty of a rhetorical figure, the ora- 
tor should imagine to himself how it would appear if it were 
painted. This method might be advantageously employed 
in other cases. We cannot, indeed, conceive how a paint- 
er could manage the complex figure which some divines 
make of the ministry and the church ; but in Revelations, 
xii. 1. we have a piece of painting in which the church ap- 
pears to us to be clearly identified ; and the apostles are 
fairly distinguished from her. "There appeared (says John) 
a great sign in the heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun, 
and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
twelve stars." It is generally, if not universally, admitted, 
that this was a representation of the church and the twelve 
apostles. Of her resplendent dress, and her position, we 
need not now say any thing; but we have to remark that, 
a crown makes no part of the head which wears it; and 
that inattention itself could hardly confound them. Ac- 
cording to this figure, St. Peter was not the head of the 
church, as he only occupied a place by his representative 
star in the crown, in common with the other apostles. 
These, or similar remarks, we think, are applicable to all 
the figures in the New Testament, which appertain to the 
church and the apostles. They are not confounded, nor is 
the one put for the other. When the church is compared 
to a temple, it is built upon the foundation of the apostles 
and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone, 
&c. Now, the dragon, the fierce and inveterate enemy of 
the woman, has seven heads and ten horns, not crowns, all 
belonging to his body. But Jesus Christ alone is head 
over all things to the church. The twelve apostles, in vir- 
tue of their divine inspiration, hold a distinguished place; 
yet, they are neither the church, nor its head; how, then, 
came their boasted successors to be entitled to both these 
distinctions? We have long forseen, and dreaded the con- 
sequences, of familiarizing the minds of our brethren to 
this unscriptural kind of language, and we are persuaded, 
that it is high time to make a stand against it. It seems to 
us, also, that "Episcopal Church," is susceptible of wrong 
14* 



162 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

conception ; indeed, according to the usual manner of ex- 
plaining such adjectives, it nearly answers to "Bishop's 
Church." We trust, that it was not intended, that our 
church should belong to the bishops; but who can say that 
the time will not come, when some one in this high office 
will think so. The disciples were first called Christians at 
Antioch, that is, followers of Christ ; it had been well if 
they had never been called by a less significant title. 

Philo Alethes. 



Here the remarks on Bishop McKendree's address laid before the 
Philadelphia Conference, &c. by an Old Member of that conference 
commences. 

Here a writer with the signature of Waters begins to write. 



No. 30. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. February, 1823, No. x. page 392. 

Remarks on Rev. Joshua Soule's Letter. 

Mr. Stockton: 

The contents of Mr. Soule's letter to you, will be found, 
I trust, to be partly answered in fact, if not in form, in the 
Appendix to the Review, published in No. 9. To which I 
beg leave to refer him and your readers. 

In comparing Mr. Soule's letter with the review, there 
seems to be a disagreement, but as he and the reader are 
the more competent judges of the matter, I will quote the 
two passages. "It would afford the most sensible gratifica- 
tion, to be able to anticipate, that the historian will find himself 
in possession of ample data to present these transactions in 
the most favorable point of light; but with present facts and 
evidences, we have not the means of exonerating them from 
all departure from the rules of prudence; nor can we see 
how the consequence can be avoided unless they shall say 
we were mistaken." Review, page 261, No. 7, vol. 2. 
£C And finally, after suggesting a fear that the future historian 
will not be able to obtain justifying data, he assures the 
public that he has such facts and evidences, as exclude the 
means of exoneration." Mr. Soule's letter, page 337, No. 
9, vol. 2. 

Mr. Soule seems so far to have mistaken my meaning, as 
to require of me what, according to the sense of the re- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 163 

view, I say I had not the means of doing, for the want of 
"facts and evidences." Whoever will be at the pains of 
examining the review and the appendix, will perceive, that 
I was aiming rather to apologise, than to criminate. And 
I do now say, had I been in possession of such facts and 
evidences as would have exonerated them, I would have 
done it. And if I possessed them now, I would exonerate 
Mr. Soule "from all departure from the rules of prudence." I 
have not even a copy of his note to the bishops, nor the 
means of procuring one. But if the publication of that 
document would exonerate Mr. Soule, it would afford rae 
sensible gratification to see it spread on the pages of the 
repository. If Mr. Soule and the reader shall perceive the 
mistakes made in his letter, and rectify them, they will save 
me the trouble of a more particular answer to his commu- 
nication. 

Quorum pars fui. 



No. 31. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. February, 1823, No. x. page 399. 

On Ecclesiastical Polity. — No. I. 

An itinerant ministry of such a country as England, con- 
sisting of the professed members of a national church, with 
a special view to the reviving of the spirit of religion in 
that church, and the organizing of spiritual proselytes into 
societies, for the purpose of stricter discipline, can be ex- 
tended to only a few of the demands of an independent 
church in a country like these United States. Nor in this 
country, where all the different denominations are upon a 
footing of political equality, can such an itinerancy as Mr. 
Wesley organized in England, become extensively prosper- 
ous. Before the revolution it is well known, that the influ- 
ence of Methodism was almost exclusively confined to 
those who professed to hold some relation to the established 
church. The manner in which the old Methodist preach- 
ers held forth in the pulpit, was adapted to that particular 
state of things, and would now be hardly tolerated. Scarce- 
ly any circumstances in old English Methodism, are rela- 
tively applicable to the Protestant Episcopal Church. If 
the experiment should be made to form societies out of the 
membership of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who might 



164 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

still claim their standing in that church, it would not suc- 
ceed to any considerable extent. These are plain and ob- 
vious facts which ought not to be overlooked. 

Can it be possible, that the power which governs a church, 
acquires excellence by its mobility? The supposition is op- 
posed by all the analogies in the universe, and is certainly 
not warranted by experience. It may be laid down as an 
incontrovertible position, that Methodism cannot exist in 
this country as in England, in a society form. It must 
maintain a church form, or be swallowed up of other inde- 
pendent churches. Now it admits of proof of fact, that 
there never was a church before our own, in which the 
power to govern was exclusively lodged in the hands of an 
itinerant ministry; and in ours, the principle is yielding to 
the pressure of necessity so far, that not only in all the prin- 
cipal towns, have the preachers become stationary for the 
time being, but in several instances, different congregations 
in the same place, are under the government of separate 
rulers. If the Methodist Episcopal Church can exist with- 
out schools and teachers of its own; without the means 
and influence to modify and direct the manners and morals 
which wealth naturally engenders; and, if the people will 
consent that the power which is perpetually to rule, shall 
remain quite above their control, then may its government 
remain exclusively in the itinerant ministry. But, will not 
the wealth, and learning, and liberty so generally diffused 
among the different denominations in this country, swal- 
low up all competition not supported by these artificial aids? 
These are rival influences, which are in perpetual action, 
and if by revivals of religion, they may be temporally sus- 
pended, their whole effect is felt in the time of trial and ad- 
versity. Whenever these causes, in any instance take ef- 
fect, nothing is more difficult than to countervail them. 
The ruling power, when exclusively in the itinerant minis- 
try, must be little less than omnipotent, if it can overcome 
all the natural and artificial resistance against which it will 
have to contend. Have the advocates for the exclusive go- 
vernment of travelling preachers, ever counted the cost? 
Or, have they adopted the maxim, "Athanasius against the 
world?" Can power, naked, abstract, single handed, mo- 
nopolized power, cope with all the sects, in a whole nation, 
who will make a common cause against it? Those who 
have lived to witness the results of the power of itinerancy 
upon the largest scale, must be sanguine indeed, if they 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 165 

can confide in its final success. Have we not data suffi- 
cient to calculate its maximum effect ? The advocates for 
the exclusive power of an itinerant ministry, speak and act 
as though there were something more than human in the 
plan ; and, truly, if it be capable of unqualified success to 
an indefinite extent, it is an exception to every thing not 
altogether divine. In all the operations of nature, there 
are limits, beyond which, its power is either suspended or 
revoked ; and the maximum limit is still more manifest in 
the works of art. It would therefore be reasonable, if we 
did not know the fact, to infer similar consequences in re- 
gard to the power of itinerants. The British connexion 
have done better under an annual president, than they did 
under a perpetual one ; though that perpetual one, was the 
father of Methodism himself. The reason is obvious. Un- 
der their present economy, their president never grows old, 
is never sick and infirm. His youth may be renewed like 
the eagle's. Nothing demonstrates the advantage of the 
division of labor, and of course, power, more clearly, than 
the change which time makes in the human capacities. 
Young men for action, and old men for council, says the 
proverb; but an unqualified itinerancy, says all men, for ac- 
tion or for nothing. How injudicious is that policy which 
throws away every body it cannot move with a given ve- 
locity? 

Elders in the apostolic times ruled well, though they did 
not, and possibly on account of their infirmities, could 
not, labor in the word and doctrine. So important was go- 
vernment in those days, and so rare the talent, that it was 
considered as a special gift, distinct from prophecy. Ex- 
perience now proves that the gift of eloquent speech does 
not always qualify men to rule well. Let the orators travel, 
and let them preach as long as they are able and willing; 
but, let them not on this account be entitled to all power in 
heaven and in earth; nor when their tuneful tongues begin 
to falter, let them be thrown by as broken instruments: may 
they not even then assist in governing? 

Is it not to be feared, that a servile admiration of the so- 
ciety polity of the British Methodist preachers, (whose 
hands are in the lion's mouth, and who of course must get 
them out as easy as they can,) has misled and bewildered 
the understandings of our General Conferences. In order 
to act up to the spirit of the British preachers, all their 
measures in this country must be reversed. They do all 



166 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

they can in conformity to the government under which they 
live ; but how differently must we act, if we go and do like- 
wise? P, P. 



No. 32. 

Wesley an Repository, vol. ii. March, 1823, No. xi. page 419. 

Thoughts on the General Conference. 

If, as some of the travelling preachers are disposed to ar- 
gue, the General Conference have nothing to do, we hope 
the members will stay at home ; and not meet at Baltimore 
on a Tom fool's errand. We should think that the authors 
of this discovery will not have the thanks of the body of el- 
ders for thus (as a friend of our's used to say) leaving them 
the broom-stick to ride. It is impossible to be grave on 
this subject, and command one's feelings. We are obliged 
to laugh to keep from crying. We are going to offer a 
a most sage piece of advice to the annual conferences. 
Rev. and dear brethren, we advise you before you elect 
your delegates for the General Conference of 1824, one and 
all of you, from Maine to Mississippi, to pass a resolve, 
that, two-thirds of your delegates concurring, the constitu- 
tion may be so altered, that the General Conference may 
do something ; and not sit together with their fingers in their 
mouths. If brethren go on to reduce their own theories 
into practice, they will become public laughing stocks. 
Their constitutions will become as ridiculous as the old 
"blue laws." 

Let us now compare this do nothing attribute of the Gen- 
eral Conference, with its doings in 1812; the very first ses- 
sion after the restrictions were imposed, a law was made, 
with pains and penalties against local preachers. It seems 
that there was a statute requiring local preachers to have 
their names enrolled upon class papers, &c. in default of 
which they were to forfeit their license, but certain ordained 
preachers argued that they had no license, and of course the 
law does not embrace them. The General Conference of 
1812, took up this case upon motion made and seconded in 
due form, and passed the present act: the like of which, 
taking it for all in all, we think cannot be found in all the 
annals of preachers' legislation from the destruction of Je- 
rusalem to this day. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 167 

A local preacher whose name is enrolled on the steward's 
book of the quarterly meeting of the circuit, or station to 
which he belongs, who has a parchment of deacon's and el- 
der's orders as so many testimonials of the acknowledged be- 
lief of the bishops and elders of the church that he is called of 
God to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, forfeits them all 
if his name is not found upon a class paper; and to com- 
plete the whole, these penalties are imposed in 1812, by a 
body of men, who, according to the showing of some of 
their brethren who voted for this very measure, have no 
constitutional right nor power to do any thing. Is not this 
"going high low?" Time would fail to tell how many 
changes have taken place in our statute book; and how 
many have been attempted to be made since 1808. Cer- 
tainly if the General Conference can do nothing, many a 
long journey and a vast deal of breath has been spent in dis- 
puting for nothing. 

Now, it is easily to be perceived that all this affectation 
grows out of the childish or dotish fear that the delegates 
will over do matters. 

This is all fudge. When the preachers become tired of 
travelling, and the people tired of change, the omnipotent 
constitution will become a dead letter; and all the men in 
the world will not be able to bring it to life again. Brethren 
had better be advised to try to nurse and coax the cause. 
We have a word or two to offer, when occasion serves, 
upon the subject of stationing preachers, and divers "other 
men's matters;" and, we flatter ourselves, that we can 
even on this thread bare subject say something in a way 
different from the manner of our good friends; but we dare 
not promise to say it either so logically or eloquently. 

Juctjndas. 



No. 33, 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. April, 1S23, No. xii. page 441. 

Warring in a Triangle. 

An Ecclesiastico Ministerial paper of some importance to those who 
wish for information about our men and measures. 

This Repository is a pugnacious kind of thing; like 
Daniel's ram. it pushes westward, and northward, and south- 
ward. Our readers are entitled to some positive informa- 



168 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

tion respecting the state of parties among travelling preach- 
ers, and the relative bearings of the Repository towards 
them. A number of preachers, mostly to the north of the 
Potomac, are in favor of lodging the supremacy in the Gen- 
eral Conference, nearly in a manner stated in a book called 
A Vindication of Methodist Episcopacy. It was against 
this book, as it gave a tangible form to the subject, that the 
Repository made a stand. The author of the vindication 
has unfortunately, and quite foreign to the merits of the 
controversy, become identified with his book ; and, from 
untoward circumstances, is made to appear in the Reposi- 
tory, with an individual and personal hostility, which its 
writers have never felt towards him. The object of this 
book, it seems to us, is not merely to secure the General 
Conference against the supposed encroachments of the la- 
ity, but of the episcopacy also. Though this point, per- 
haps, from prudential considerations is not expressed, we 
infer it from the conduct of the writer and his friends. 

The body of the preachers to the west and south of Ma- 
ryland, with a part of the episcopacy, and some preachers 
elsewhere, claim for the senior bishop a precedence; which 
though they have not clearly defined, cannot be easily mis- 
understood in those cases in which his judgment happens to 
conflict with the conferences. When this interesting point 
was at issue, the author of the Vindication, as well as his 
friends, acquitted themselves well in behalf of the General 
Conference; and on all occasions, as far as we know, his 
zeal and uniformity on the presiding elder question, de- 
serves the thanks of all, and has ours in particular. 

The division among the advocates for a supremacy, and 
our opposition to the principle in any form, either in a 
General Conference of travelling elders, or an archbishop, 
we have expressed in our motto: — Warring in a triangle. 
How two enemies can fight against a third, has been con- 
sidered as the most difficult of all military problems. The 
circumstance of the Repository, in the above respects, have 
indeed been unfavorable to its interests by reducing the 
number of its writers, as a third party, almost exclusively to 
the laity, and lay, that is, local preachers. Though wo can- 
not persuade ourselves to believe, that all the travelling 
preachers are suprematists, that is, believe that the clergy 
have a right to make laws for the church without its con- 
gent ; yet it can easily be perceived, that this singular and 
perplexing dilemma is well calculated to make them cau- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 169 

tious of avowing their opinions ; and that those who op- 
pose an archi-episcopal supremacy, will be more than usu- 
ally careful to purify themselves of all cause of suspicion of 
communion with the advocates for laical rights. 

The author of the Vindication, by the necessity of the 
case, being obliged to advocate an abstract principle for his 
rivals, as well as himself, bears a very disproportionate part 
of this burden. While he sustains the brunt of the battle, 
in the event of victory, it is still by no means certain that 
he will conquer for himself; others may reap the fruit of 
his labors, and leave him and his itinerant friends under a 
supremacy as disagreeable to them, as theirs is to us. This 
writer, we regret to say, has manifested a premature offi- 
ciousness which we find it difficult to reconcile with his 
usual prudence and good sense. He seems not to have 
been aware of the extent of the force he was daring to the 
field, or of the perils to which the divided phalanx of itin- 
erancy would expose him. Already have we heard more 
than once from his itinerant rivals, something like a hesi- 
tating tone, upon the subject of lay delegation, which indi- 
cated to our apprehension, that the spirit of rivalship be- 
tween them was deep rooted if not incurable. We think, 
indeed, that as far as travelling preachers are concerned, 
the Vindicator and his friends have the better argument; at 
the same time, we are well aware, that in regard to the com- 
parative tendency of the principles of ecclesiastical mon- 
archy or aristocracy in the public mind, precedents are 
against their prospects of success. It is the common bias, 
and therefore, seems to be the natural one, for men in a 
competition between monarchy and aristocracy to favor the 
former. A General Conference of travelling elders, in 
which the members of the church have neither right nor 
power, may look big and talk big, but an archi-episcopal su- 
premacy is much the more alluring object to the public gaze ; 
and whether seen in the foreground or in the distance, 
will shine with a concentrated splendour calculated to ob- 
scure the diffusive radiance of an aristocracy. This we 
know to have been the fact in Rome. — When we want to 
study human nature on a public scale, we go to Rome; 
when religion to Jerusalem. Though the popes have al- 
ways dreaded, and sometimes felt the power of general 
councils, they secured to themselves the greater measure 
of public favor. Moreover, if the supremacy is to go by 
seniority, the interests of the junior bishops, or their ambi- 
15 



170 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

tion, if bishops could be ambitious, would naturally lead 
them to take sides against the elders. We cannot, there- 
fore, indulge in the belief, that the patrons of the suprema- 
cy of the General Conference, will always be able to num- 
ber episcopal men in their ranks. 

Some body, if our recollection serves us, whispered in 
in our ear, that such a union is not only unnatural, but sa- 
vors of apostacy from episcopal dignity, not to say rights. 

We do not anticipate that the litigating parties will com- 
promise their claims, with a view to crush us. Neither of 
them can be presumed to owe us any hearty good will ; for 
if we have said much against the supremacy of the body of 
the elders, the others must perceive that it was ovving to 
the accidental circumstance of the book furnishing the text. 
It does not perhaps become us to say so ; but, really, taking 
the facts and circumstances into due consideration, as they 
transpire, it does seems to us that the contents of the Re- 
pository are every day becoming more important both to the 
preachers and the private members. We have pursued our 
hazardous and unthankful task, from the high considera- 
tions of duty ; had we been left to follow our own inclina- 
tion, our subjects would have been different; and, we can 
now say without vanity or presumption, that the resources 
of the Repository are richer than ever, in original matter, 
unconnected with the odious subject of power. And we 
should hail the event as auspicious, if we could be left with- 
out the control of adventitious causes (as the present vol- 
ume is written out) to begin another under the suggestions 
of our own genius, and a competent patronage. Gladly, 
very gladly would we exchange our polemic habits for the 
olive, the bays, and all the emblems of mental and moral 
peace; but, though we sigh for repose, neither our courage 
nor our ammunition are exhausted. We have a plentiful 
eupply of arms, both offensive and defensive. 

Philo Pisticus, Dokemasius, 
Philo Nomos, Adynasius, 
Amicus, Cincinnatus, 

Senex, The Editor, 

Waters, and others. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 171 

No. 34. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. ii. April, 1823, No. xii. page 445. 

On Ecclesiastical Polity. — No. II, 

The commentary on the book of discipline was pretty 
explicit; but it was reserved for the "Vindication, &c." to 
assert in so many words, the right of itinerant elders to go- 
vern themselves and all the members of the church, without 
their consent. Now, if we could prove that it is impossi- 
ble for an itinerant ministry to govern every thing, and 
every body, we could set aside their right by inference, 
as nobody can have a right to do impossibilities. A 
travelling preacher can not rule his own house; he can- 
not have his own children in subjection; for this plainest of 
all reasons, he cannot rule where he is not. The same ar- 
gument applies to a number of cases and circumstances in 
the church. He who is only once in four weeks in a place, 
possesses a ratio of knowledge, to a person who is constantly 
in the same place, as one day to four weeks. But his class- 
leader is delegated to take cognizance in his absence ? Be 
it so. And is not this a giving up of the principle? 

Experince, both in rules and in facts, must be united, to 
make an expert and correct administrator of discipline ; but 
after all, the law lies only against the lawless and disobe- 
dient. The exclusion of such from the church, must be 
anticipated as a necessary case, and power sufficient for 
this purpose, must exist, as essential to the preservation of 
the church ; but this formidable attribute is but small, when 
compared to the whole measure of ruling influence. The 
more perfectly a church is governed, the fewer will be the 
occasions for the exercise of the expelling power. To 
prevent, and to cure offences, constitutes a good church 
government; but these operations, it is evident, must be 
mainly effected by persuasion and example. In churches 
newly organised, and to which large accessions of mem- 
bers have been suddenly made, prompt discipline is gene- 
rally called for; but in other cases, almost every thing must 
be effected by a delicate regard to personal reputation, and 
a skilful management of the principle of modest shame. 
The art of raising a blush, is the art of promoting virtue. 
It requires a nice and a delicate hand to touch the social 
springs of action, so as not to injure them. But when 
power is exclusively in the hands of itinerant men, little or 
iione of the social influence can qualify its application. It 



172 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

has a naked and terrifying aspect, and the influence of ex- 
ample disjoined from it, is weak and languid. Good man- 
ners and good morals, receive their first fostering influence 
in domestic life; and in the second stage of their existence 
they acquire strength and maturity from those conventional 
rules and examples by which each individual acts as a kind 
of censor general, and is acted on by the same influence 
from others. The task of training youth to virtue and 
piety on a general scale, by any other means, would be al- 
most hopeless: but almost the whole of this operation is 
out of the reach of the itinerant preacher. He has neither 
time nor place to witness, or to participate in these scenes. 
Young men of sanguine temperament, when they begin 
their itinerant career, generally indulge themselves in the 
fond anticipation of seeing and knowing every body ; but 
the experience of a few years, recovers them from this 
waking dream. The rapidity with which the faculties of 
the youthful mind are evolved, and the fixedness of cha- 
racter which the mind receives from actual impressions, 
soon renders the itinerant friends of the parents, strangers 
to their children. Travellers can bring few, if any, of those 
adventitious circumstances to bear upon the feelings during 
their absence, which so often and so largely minister to 
friendship among present acquaintances. Cicero relates a 
pleasant story of himself. He tells us, that on his return 
from the government of Sicily, he asked a Roman, whom 
he met on the way, what was the news in Rome, and what 
they thought of Cicero's administration, &c. ? Cicero ! 
answered the man, I never heard of his administration. 
He inferred, he says, that the Romans had good eyes, but 
bad ears. This remark is peculiarly applicable to young 
people ; they are infinitely more affected with what they see 
than with what they hear. Moreover, the constant chang- 
ing of rulers cannot fail to beget levity and inconstancy of 
friendship, between the rulers and the ruled. Let it con- 
stantly be borne in mind, that these essays are not intended 
to involve the subject of itinerant preaching in any manner 
or way, nor whether itinerant preachers shall have any par- 
ticipation in the government; but whether the government 
shall be exclusively in their hands. 

In a former essay, the principle of maximum, or greatest 
degree of effect, was asserted of an itinerant government, 
as well as of the powers of nature and art. To which may 
be added some remarks upon the peculiar nature of religious 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 173 

government. Certainly, a church should not be governed 
by a kind of martial law, and it is no difficult task to point 
out many cases in which the resemblance will not hold 
good between civil and ecclesiastical government. It is 
matter of some surprise, that among the zealous supporters 
of strict discipline, so little account should have been taken 
of the important question, what will become of the expelled 
member? Is it a sufficient answer to say, in all cases, and 
in all countries, ( 'let him be to thee as a heathen man and 
a publican?" Happy "the powers that be," who have so 
exercised discipline, as to provoke the smallest measure of 
pride and prejudice. The cutting off of church members 
requires almost as much skill as the amputation of a phy- 
sical member: as the body itself may be endangered by the 
operation. Age and soundness of mind are indispensable 
requisites in church rulers; qualities of rare attainment 
among itinerant men. In no labor, is the body or the mind 
so quickly worn out, as by constant travelling and preach- 
ing. Even the mind of the great Asbury was for whole 
years in a state of almost child-like debility ; though he 
again recovered its strength. The number of young men 
who have had charges of circuits and stations among us, 
has long been proverbial. For though, as certain writers 
have shown, our travelling plan has much of military dis- 
cipline in it, yet, from necessity, or some other cause, pro- 
motion to office is not graduated by any scale. A young 
man of five and twenty, or under, may have the govern- 
ment of a thousand souls, and a half or a whole dozen of 
local preachers ; a moiety of whom have grown gray in the 
ministry; and he has the exclusive choice and control of 
all his seconds in command, or class-leaders. Do not all 
the arguments and remarks already made, go to show, that 
it is impossible for him to govern these people as they 
ought to be governed, and that therefore he cannot have 
the exclusive right ? 

On some future occasion, an essay or two may be devot- 
ed to the government of principle ; in which it may be at- 
tempted to prove, that principle itself must be an ultimate 
cause in every correct system of ecclesiastical polity. Most 
unfortunately, in the present monopoly of the itinerant 
preachers, it is hardly brought into view; but every thing 
is committed to the virtue of unlimited power, and passive 
obedience. 

P. P. 
15* 



174 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. III. 

Mr. Paley has made some judicious remarks upon the 
laws of honor, in which he shews how far they fall short of 
the divine law. But if the laws of honor have a binding 
influence and are actually observed, this is an instance of 
the power of principle to govern men socially; and, if the 
maxim "there is honor among thieves," be true, it is a still 
stronger example. For whether men associate as gentlemen 
or villains, their voluntary association is maintained by prin- 
ciple, and not by civil or moral laws. But what use do we 
mean to make of these examples? Do we infer from them 
that legislators and written laws and governments are use- 
less if not mischievous? By no means. We consider such 
conclusions both false and dangerous. But, we argue them 
in evidence, that all laws and governments should be so 
organized and administered, as to generate and to foster 
the principles of obedience, and to promote their recipro- 
cal influence among the members of the community. We 
have been told, that in some one or more of the eastern 
states, if not in others, there was an interegnum between 
the ceasing of the old British authority, and the commence- 
ment of the independent government; and, that neverthe- 
less, such were the principles and habits of the people, that 
persons and property were as much respected as if the laws 
had remained in full force. This has been considered as a 
case without a parallel among nations whose spirits have 
been broken by despotism. Fear, indeed, is the weakest 
and most limited of all the motives to obedience. Under 
the influence of the fears of detection and punishment, 
every species of crime may be committed, save overt acts 
of rebellion. Is there not a danger of this very consequence 
in placing the governing power wholly in the hands of the 
travelling preachers ? The members of the church finding 
themselves deprived of all participation in the government, 
and having no power to hold their rulers in check, may they 
not be naturally tempted to use artifice to remunerate them- 
selves, and retaliate upon those who have deprived them of 
an inherent right? We know that fear and hypocrisy have 
thus followed in the wake of absolute power. When the 
old cat is gone, says the adage, the mice play. Could power 
in any other hands, be more favorable to the truant propen- 
sities of unprincipled professors of religion, than in those 
of itinerant preachers ? The class leaders will hold them in 
check. May be so — may be not. But the preacher will be 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 175 

round once in four weeks, and he'll thunder out his power 
upon them and threaten to turn out every soul of them. 
This to be sure, would be very alarming until next day, 
when he shall be off again. Well, next year the new 
preacher will be a thorough going disciplinarian and he'll 
set all to rights. Observe, we are speaking now of cunning 
against power, and we think that a little reflection must 
convince any one, that a change of preachers can neither 
correct it, nor match it. In this supposed case, it is a 
principle of reaction. The increase of the current only 
serves to increase the eddy. 

If the time shall ever come, when motives and interests 
shall be strong enough to induce unprincipled persons to 
remain in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the present mo- 
nopoly of power in the hands of the travelling preachers, 
will, as the same cause ever has done, drive things from 
bad to worse. We have listened with attention to the ar- 
guments employed to prove the lawfulness and the expedi- 
ency of exclusive unbalanced power; but could hear no- 
thing said of its effect upon the human heart, where it dis- 
plays its greatest influence. We are indeed free to declare 
our disbelief in the omnipotent virtue of any system ; as 
we know that ambition, as well as other evils, come from 
within, out of the heart of man ; but we cannot help prog- 
nosticating danger when the system under which men act, 
has a natural tendency to inspire them with a desire for the 
distinction of office. One may be habituated to climb until 
it shall become painful to walk on level ground. Every 
office in our church is so organized as to have one above it 
on which it depends, up to the bishops, who are equal among 
themselves. It is a problem which time alone can solve, 
how they, after being schooled on the step ladder of ine- 
quality, will agree to manage their co-ordinate jurisdiction. 
It will be happy for them, and happy for us all, if no strife 
creeps in among them, who shall be greatest! 

When shall it be, that travelling preachers will submit to 
take lessons from the little child whom Jesus set in the 
midst of his disciples? Nothing is to us a source of greater 
regret, than to observe how large a portion of the leavening 
influence of a hierarchical spirit is found in the ministry, 
amidst the greatest causes of humility. That this spirit 
should infect men in all the pride of learning, who wait in 
the purlieus of kings' palaces, is no matter for wonder; 
but one would be led to suppose from the circumstances of 



176 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

a travelling preacher's life and character, that the love of 
power would be his least and last besetment. Alas for us ! 
stubborn facts constrain us to admit the mortifying truth, 
that power is an idol at whose shrine the unlearned, as 
well as the learned, the poor as well as the rich, the Ameri- 
can republican, as well as the European monarchist, can 
bow down and pay their vows. P. P. 



Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. for 1323 and 1824. 

Rev. Dr. John French's Address to the General Conference of 
1820, in behalf of local preachers, and written by their request ; ap- 
peared in the May No. of this volume. 



TSo. 35. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. May 1823, No. I. page 24. 

Serious charges alleged against the Reposiotry. 

Mr. Stockton, 

I am a constant reader of the Wesleyan Repository. 
But the saying, "many men of many minds," I find is as 
applicable to the readers of this publication, and to those 
who do not read it, as to other men. Whether the writer 
of the following extract of a letter I received a few days 
ago, is a reader of the Repository, I know not ; but, I can 
assure you that he is not only one of my oldest and most 
esteemed friends, but a man of long and of deservedly high 
standing in our church, whose judgment has great weight 
among those who know him best ; and he is both extensive- 
ly and intimately known and beloved. Here follows the ex- 
tract : — "As to the Repository, I find it attacks the Wes- 
leyan, and Arminian government* indiscriminately ; and, I 

* "Arminian government /" What sort of a government is that ? Are 
its subjects represented ? If so, we have never published a syllable 
against Arminian government. A system of church polity worthy of 
this distinguishing appellation, should have something, at least, re- 
sembling Arminianism. Now, if the religious creed which goes by this 
honored name, has any one doctrine more prominent than another, it is 
that which unites redeeming grace and free will. A system of eccle- 
siastical polity, according with the manly and rational system of Ar- 
minianism, is the very desideratum sought. As to "Wesleyan govern- 
ment, " it is certain, there is no fair sample in America. Such a go- 
vernment, may, however, we would hope, be obtained, as shall associ- 
ate its principles and practices, with the morality and soul-renewing 
tthristianity taught by Wesley. Editor. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 177 

think, all government. I can compare it to nothing but a 
desolating army, that burns bridges, mills, villages, cities, 
farm-houses, &c. &c. and leaves all the country a desola- 
tion. By this, I mean to say, it destroys all governments 
that now exist, and leaves nothing as a substitute. If my 
conclusions are erroneous in this respect, I wait to be cor- 
rected." 

Here, then, you have the sober and deliberative judgment 
of a wise and good man ; not an office hunter, nor a flat- 
terer of men in power ; a man who would be found among 
the foremost to resist the progress of ambition. Now, 
though my friend has not made a convert of me to his way 
of thinking respecting the Repository, it seems to me that 
your correspondents and readers, and yourself also, should 
be apprized of it, in order that they and you may judge as 
favorably and as charitably as possible of those who oppose 
the Repository generally. I know that my friend was sin- 
cere in his opposition to the Repository, because he is sin- 
cere in every thing; but, I never should have conceived the 
ground of his opposition ; nay, I never should have believed 
it, if I had not received the information from his own pen. 

I have long known that our preachers and the members 
of our church, were not only men of like passions, but of 
like minds with the rest of our countrymen. I calculated, 
therefore, that the opinions which might be advanced in the 
Repository, though they might be abstractly correct, would 
give rise to a considerable degree of diversity of opinion and 
party feeling ; but, that you and your correspondents, some 
of whom I know well, should be viewed as anarchists, and 
patrons of a work which attacks our government indiscri- 
minately, and, as the writer thinks, all government, greatly 
exceeds my fears. You must now, sir, have the mortifica- 
tion to know that your first twenty-six, and succeeding 
twelve numbers, are compared to two squadrons of an army 
of Goths and Vandals ; breaking through the peaceful bar- 
riers of law and government, and laying waste, with fire and 
sword, all the works of art and agriculture. The silence 
which has been preserved, notwithstanding your frequent 
calls for answers to the various essays, you must perceive, 
are not to be taken as a proof that they are unanswerable. 
Who would think of reasoning with a desolating army ? 

This is not the only instance which has come to my 
knowledge, of the unfavorable opinions which are enter- 
tained of the motives and intentions of the writers for the 



178 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION, 

Repository, as well as its editor; but, I had treated them 
heretofore as unworthy of serious regard, supposing that 
they were confined mostly to those whose prophecies (of 
evil) had gone before ; and, who, of course, had an interest 
at stake in their accomplishment, (for though we are in no 
danger now-a-days of being hung as false prophets, yet we 
are tenacious of our notions as well as of our necks,) or to 
those who are much more easily stimulated by zeal for ex- 
isting rules or usages, than by arguments and evidences 
upon their merits, however dispassionate. 

I would advise you, sir, by all means, if you go on as you 
contemplate, with a third volume, to be very cautious lest 
you introduce any thing into your pages which might be 
construed into an occasion of personal quarrel, as it appears 
that you can publish nothing, about men or measures, 
which will not be subject to the most unfavorable construc- 
tion. The cry of "mad dog" has been raised against your 
publication, and you may expect that it will be attacked, 
whenever it appears, with stones and sticks. 

In vain shall you reiterate a thousand times over, that the 
only object is to obtain a representative and liberal govern- 
ment. You see that you are viewed as making an attack 
upon Arminian government, though I would fain hope that 
this was a slip of my friend's pen. 

A Constant Reader. 



No. 36. 

Western Repository, vol. iii. May, 1823, No. I. page 30, 31. 

Thoughts on Matthew xviii. 

There was a time when a General Conference was so 
much above the bishops, that the conference could vote 
away their opinions, though they were written in the form 
of notes on the book of discipline. Such an event actually 
happened in the beginning of the present century. Now, 
as the note on the manner of trying and expelling members 
is still extant, and is a curious specimen of episcopal rea- 
soning, &c, we will take the liberty to offer a tew thoughts 
on the same subject. The note assumes as evident, that the 
15th, 16th, 17th verses, were addressed to the apostles, and 
through them, to all ministers, &c. But the proof is not to 
us satisfactory. The apostles are not mentioned, as such, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 179 

in the whole chapter; which begins thus: "At the same 
time (that Peter was directed concerning the paying of the 
tribute money) the disciples came to Jesus, saying : Who 
is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven ?" Were these the 
other eleven only ? Or were there some others with them ? 
To us it appears that all that is spoken in the 20th verse, is 
spoken to disciples generally, without any reference to par- 
ticular offices. For, the apostles themselves, in most in- 
stances, seem to be considered in many respects like other 
disciples, and were, in fact, in several points of knowledge, 
but little above them before they were endued with power 
from on high. Here ere no intimations that there was any 
thing mysterious which was peculiarly given to them to 
know. 

In the 21st verse, Peter comes and says, "How oft shall 
my brother sin against me and I forgive him ? Till seven 
times ? Surely no one who understands our Lord's answer, 
will affirm that it was spoken through Peter to the ministry 
only ! If then, when the speaker is a designated apostle, 
the answer is general, and concerns all disciples as well as 
apostles, how much more, when the speakers are disciples, 
must the answer be supposed to be directed to them gene- 
rally ? The authors of the note lay great stress upon the 
binding and loosing power, which, as they conceive, can be- 
long to none but the apostles and their successors. They 
seem to have overlooked the consequence of this restriction 
upon the following verses : "For where two or three (does 
he mean only apostles ?) are gathered together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them." Now we think that the 
disciples, while our Lord was with them, were "the church;" 
that is, that all the disciples of Jesus, during his ministry, 
were his church or congregation. We will now state the 
two cases : and first, that we differ from ; then, our own. 
"Moreover, if thy brother (apostle or minister) shall trespass 
against thee, go, &c. — but if he neglect to hear the church, 
let him be to thee," &,c. &c. Does not this scheme imply, 
that if the apostles or ministers should be trespassed against, 
they must make the members of the church umpires and 
moderators ? But did the authors of the notes, or any tra- 
velling preacher, ever do this ? Those who have ever read 
of the manner of trying travelling preachers, deacons, elders, 
presiding elders, and bishops, will be at no loss to answer 
this question. 

We will now give our own : "Moreover, if thy brother 



180 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

(disciple) trespass against thee, go, &c. &c. — and if he ne- 
glect to hear the church," &c. &. The General Confer- 
ence, as we have said, decided, by a large majority, upon 
this point, upon the principle that the members of the church 
ought, of right, to be judged by their peers ; and, in 1808, 
this act was made unrepealable by the delegates of the an- 
nual conferences. One of the proofs of the correctness of 
this decision, we draw from 1 Corinthians, chap. vi. in 
which we have a clear and full view of St. Paul's conceptions 
of the judicial attributes of the saints. "Dare any of you, 
(says he) having a matter against another, go to law before 
the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that 
the saints shall judge the world ? And if the world shall be 
judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest mat- 
ters ? Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? How much 
more things pertaining to this life ?" We deem it highly 
worthy of remark, that, while our Lord officiated as a teacher 
among his disciples, he did not direct them to appeal to him 
in cases of trespass by their brethren ; and, also, how exact- 
ly St. Paul enters into his master's spirit in this respect ; he 
neither constitutes himself nor any of his brother apostles ju- 
dicial officers ; but, considers that the powers of the church 
are plenary. Let any man, not biassed by an invincible at- 
tachment to ministerial prerogative, read the first verses of 
this chapter, and then say, if the binding and loosing power, 
or the judicial authority, is not given by our Lord to the 
church, in Matthew xviii. 18. Dokemasius. 



Thoughts upon the origin and power of offices in the Church. 

"I've found out a gift for my love !" 

In the notes on the discipline, we are told that what Mr. 
Wesley said of experience and expediency in Europe, is 
applicable to presiding eldership ; that it came into being 
by degrees. If we understand their intentions correctly, the 
first presiding elders were elders ; or, in other words, that 
all the first elders who were ordained, were, in effect presi- 
ding elders ; only, that there were no elders for them to pre- 
eide over. Mr. Wesley, it seems, recommended that no 
more elders should be ordained than were strictly necessary 
(to preside), but that afterwards the bishop, in the little con- 
ferences of those days, ordained more, and Mr. Wesley as- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 181 

sented. In 1792, the office of elders, to preside over elders, 
was fixed by statute, nearly on its present footing. Is not 
positive proof still wanting, whether Mr. Wesley really ap- 
proved of the present plan ? So we suspect. But what par- 
ticularly struck our attention in this note, was, the power 
which it assumes for the annual conferences over this order 
of men— they may try them ; expel them; or suspend ; or 
reprove them for maladministration, &,c. &,c. The notes 
on the bishop's power are no less remarkable for the full 
powers which they claim for the General Conference to take 
them to task. Nay, the authors pray that if ever they abuse 
their power, the General Conference may almost annihilate 
it; or something like it. Was it foreseen in those note- 
writing times, that before the generation should pass away, 
the text would be altered? We wonder how those gratui- 
tous prayers would tally with certain episcopal measures, 
which report says, came to pass A. D. 1820 ? Never was 
there a maxim or a usage more favorable to the advance- 
ment of power, than "by degrees, or by little and little." 

DOKEMASIUS. 



Vio. 37. 

Wes!eyan Repository, vol. iii. June, 1823, No. ii. page 69. 

A Review of the first and second volumes of the Wesley an 
Repository. 

To reform and not divide, is much more difficult in church 
than in state. But the term reform, is too general and in- 
definite in its common acceptation, to express or embrace all 
the changes which may be attempted in religious matters. 
The discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in its 
present form, is not an innovation, or a corruption, of some 
more ancient and correct system of discipline, either in the 
society, or in the church. But one change in principle 
seems to have taken place from the beginning, and that is 
favorable to liberty, viz : the transferring the trial of a mem- 
ber from the preacher to a committee of private members. 
The plan, to be sure, halts by the way, but still it is founded 
on a change of principle. It is giving a member a chance 
to be judged by his peers ; and but for the influence of one 
man, there would have been no drawback. As the case 
now stands, the prerogative of the preacher to appeal the 



182 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

case, or carry it to the quarterly meeting conference, seems 
not to be liable to much abuse, and will seldom be resorted 
to, perhaps, save in doubtful instances. 

The idea then of bringing the discipline back again to its 
primitive principles, is out of the question in our case ; nor 
is there any complaint that the execution of the discipline 
is not sufficiently strict, or less so than formerly. 

The principle contended for by the Repository, is a prin- 
ciple of right, which has never been yielded to the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church by the travelling preachers — the right 
the members have to be represented, or to represent them- 
selves in the legislative department of the church, and thus 
have a voice in the making of the rules by which they are to 
be governed. 

The right of suffrage, is the original and fundamental 
principle which has been extended through two volumes of 
the Repository. How then can it be said that this publica- 
tion is full of lies and misrepresentations? That it is oppo- 
sed to government and leads to anarchy and division, &c. ? 
Is it a lie, a falsehood, a misrepresentation, to say that the 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church have not now, 
and never had a voice in the General Conference ? Is it a 
lie, a misrepresentation, to say that it is their right — that 
they ought to be represented in the legislative councils, 
which make laws or rules for the government of the church ? 
If not, then the Repository is not full of lies and misrepre- 
sentations ; and, it does not favor anarchy and division. 
Some among the most fierce and inveterate opposers of the 
Repository, do not hesitate to declare that they never read it; 
and, in one instance, we are told, a local preacher, who 
brought forward a resolution in a district conference, the 
purport of which was to condemn the work, was compelled 
to acknowledge that he had never read it ; and it came out 
pretty plainly that he was put up to the thing for party pur- 
poses, by a man who had the assurance to say, that the less 
people knew of church matters the better for them. 

Now, it could hardly be expected that 8 or 900 octavo 
pages could be written, in repeating over and over one or 
two simple and identical sentences. The main subject has, 
indeed, been ramified and extended in its details, causes 
and consequences; facts and circumstances have been 
brought into consideration ; and men and measures have 
been made to pass in review. Will it be asserted, and can 
it be proved, that all these have been misrepresented ? In 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 183 

writing essays, for a periodical work, about the transactions 
of half a century or more, and the opinions and actions of 
men scattered over this great republic, mistakes it was fore- 
seen were unavoidable ; and, therefore, the pages of the 
Repository have been kept open for their correction ; but, its 
opponents have assumed that its writers and its editor were 
liars and deceivers, who set out with a view to propagate 
falsehoods and misrepresentations; and, of course, but few 
of them would condescend to disgrace or defile their pens 
by a contact with its pages. Now, is not this assumption, 
and ail this kind of proceeding, nearly allied to persecu- 
tion ? Certainly the Repository is not infallible, and it never 
affected to be so ; but the writers professed to be honest 
men. Here we may mention a case. The editor published 
some account of the book concern, in which he stated what 
he had heard, namely, that the editors received the retail pro- 
fits of the books sold at retail by themselves, and wrote to 
a correspondent to ascertain whether this had been the uni- 
form usage. This correspondent replied, and he so pub- 
lished. It came out that one of the former agents did 
not receive those profits, and it afterwards appeared in 
evidence that the acting agent, did not receive them. Now 
it happened that three successive agents were all together 
in an annual conference, and the agent in whose favor the 
correction was made, declared publicy, that the editor had 
libelled him ! If the taking of these profits was wrong in 
itself, was not the declaration a libel upon his predecessors, 
who did take them ? But neither the writer nor editor did 
say that it was wrong ; they only stated the case as facts in 
which this ex-agent is not implicated. 

Hitherto a few solitary writers, unknown to each other, 
under concealed names, have furnished all the original es- 
says upon the great principles of church rights and privile- 
ges ; in which all have an infinite interest, and yet the editor 
was left with his scanty subscription list to struggle against 
prejudice and all opposition, on his own responsibility. 
At one time he was brought so low as to be compelled to ad- 
vertise that the work must stop; but by the timely aid of a 
few generous patrons, and the efforts of one man, he was not 
only enabled to proceed, but to obtain original matter more 
than sufficient for each succeeding number. In the annals 
of printing in this country, there is not perhaps an instance 
of a periodica] work, which from so small beginnings and 
tinder so many discouragements, has risen by its own merits 



184 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

to so great a degree of independence on borrowed matter. 
The first volume of the Wesleyan Repository, thanks to 
the enthusiasm of the editor, and the prompt and persever- 
ing efforts of a few writers, taught, and must long contin- 
ue to teach, Methodist preachers and people in these Uni- 
ted States, not to despise the day of small things, nor to 
despair of their own resources when the sacred cause of 
religious liberty is concerned. Several of the principal 
writers for the Repository, have determined to stand by the 
editor and supply him with matter for a third volume. 

To the want of such an arrangement may be traced almost 
all the trifling errors and imperfections of the two first vol- 
umes, and the temporary advantages they have given to the 
opposers of the work. Let the candid reader consider that 
the Repository has been struggling for life — that its editor 
has had "fightings without and fears within." Let him bear 
in mind also that his correspondents were men in business, 
living remotely from each other; men who could only re- 
deem a few hours from sleep, or labor, to write an essay 
which they could scarcely find time to transcribe into a le- 
gible hand. Love for a good cause, for the best of causes, 
and sympathy for the editor, and these alone, could have 
overcome the inconveniencies under which many a line in 
the Repository has been written. But these John Baptists 
in the cause of religious liberty, have lived to see those 
come after them, who were by official station preferred be- 
fore them. They have wrestled till the break of day, and 
they hail its beams and exult in them. The three last num- 
bers of vol. 2d, need only to be placed in comparison with 
the three first of vol. 1st, to prove that we have not run in 
vain nor labored in vain. The day, we trust, is not distant 
when the Repository will find patrons and writers enough 
among travelling preachers to give it an increased celebrity, 
and add new lustre to the principles it maintains. 



No. 3S. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. June, 1823, No. ii. page 75. 

Letters from a Local Preacher to a Travelling Preacher. 
Letter i, p. 75. Letter ii, p. 92. Letter iii, p. 166. 

Dear Brother, 

I hope you will consider the inscription, and the sub- 
scription of these letters, as incidental. The almost im* 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 185 

rnense disparity between our two conditions, may, without 
any ill effect to yourself, be forgotten for the few moments 
which this correspondence will engross. Do not consider 
it as arrogant or obtrusive in me to write, nor degrading 
in you to read. The subject itself is of magnitude sufficient 
to merit your attention. 

I assume it as a fact, that Francis Asbury was the father 
of the present system, which goes under the name of the 
form of discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church : 
without his agency and influence, it never would have been 
what it now is. Mr. Wesley and Dr. Coke might have 
written, but their theories would have remained, in a great 
measure, a dead letter. The vast ability with which this 
great man presided over these elements, was fully equalled 
by his sincerity. He had the utmost confidence in the 
plan, as the best that could be devised, to promote the work 
of God in this country. I am willing to acknowledge, that 
your own sincerity is equal to his ; and yet I do not despair 
of being able to convince you, that you were both mistaken. 
The plan was started wrong. The radical error was, in 
converting the Methodist society into a church. Our doc- 
trine of "the new birth" is as true of churches, as of indi- 
viduals. Old things must be done away, and all things be- 
come new, in one case as well as the other. As in state, 
so in church, we should have first declared independence. 
The next step should have been to fix a formula, (if I may 
speak after the manner of mathematicians,) to calculate 
consequences and demonstrate results. There are data by 
which the consequences of church measures may be deter- 
mined with a considerable degree of exactness. We lay it 
down as a good general rule in religion, that nothing should 
be admitted as an integral part of a system of church polity, 
without endeavoring to ascertain, with the greatest possible 
measure of precision its final consequences. The his- 
tory of the church should be studied, not so much as the 
history of religion, as of human nature. The church of 
Rome errs, because she is infallible. Do you not perceive 
the truth of this paradox? She can make no experiments; 
she can correct nothing, until the mischief is done. Ob- 
serve with what facility she has admitted innovations, and 
with what rapidity they spread, in the examples of the 
monks and friars. Writers tell us, that monkery led to the 
reformation, and that the Jesuits contributed to lay the 
foundation for the French revolution. Why did not the 
16* 



186 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Romish court foresee these consequences ? The veil of its 
own infallibility hid them from its eyes. Do not be alarmed ; 
I do not mean to charge travelling preachers with an affec- 
tation of infallibility ; but, I am going to say to you, what I 
trust you will not deny, viz : that if men of different prin- 
ciples do the same things, the consequences will be more 
like their actions than their opinions. When the power of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church was lodged exclusively in 
the hands of travelling preachers by themselves, their 
minds approached towards the state of those who believe 
themselves to be infallible. They did not, they could not 
look forward to consequences. The unity and peace of 
the church was committed with the most unsuspicious con- 
fidence, to this unheard of and untried experiment. I 
boldly say, unheard of, and untried. Was it foreseen that 
in process of time, there would arise in the Methodist 
church, a body of local preachers, numerically greater than 
the actual number of travelling ones ? If so, was it antici- 
pated that they should be deprived of all the honors and 
emoluments of office, and be wholly excluded from the 
legislative and executive departments? Be it so. And 
was it likewise foreseen that by this privation of all their 
rights and privileges, they would be, ipso facto, ministe- 
rially degraded ? Did travelling preachers, with their eyes 
open to all these things, not only believe it to be right to 
deprive local preachers of all seconday and artificial means 
of usefulness, in order to transfer them to themselves; but 
were they fearless of all the consequences which might 
possibly he produced by these measures ? I am free to say, 
that from the first day to the present, the minds of travel- 
ling preachers have been so fettered and bewildered with 
the preconceived hypothesis of their own exclusive power 
as to disqualify them from taking just and liberal views of 
these subjects, in all their bearings, and tracing them to their 
results. The power of an itinerant ministry has been the 
idol of the system. It is the end, not the means. The 
time must come, when the fears and jealousies which are 
entertained of competition will re-act. Those who are 
treated as rivals will eventually become so. 

A Local Preacher. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 187 

Letter II. 

Dear Brother, 

At one breath, our system-makers tell us, that no plan 
or model of church government is laid down in the scrip- 
tures, and with the next they confound us with declamation 
in favor of the scriptural nature of their own plan. Now, 
an agreement or likeness between two systems may be in 
language or in principles. "In the language," say the 
English divines, "of our excellent church;" but this lan- 
guage may be found, on comparison, not to be in exact ac- 
cordance with that of the New Testament. It is, to be 
sure, of no great consequence in the abstract, how the lan- 
guage differs, provided the principles are nearly the same ,* 
but, certainly, this kind of egotism ought to have little 
weight in any point of competition with the "excellent" 
New Testament. We have copied the church of England, 
because we were taught to believe it approached nearer to 
the primitive churches than any other. But what has the 
church of England in common with the primitive churches? 
Or what have we in common with the church of England? 
If it were possible for a painter to draw the three por- 
traits, and place them side by side, against a wall, in view 
of all who might choose to inspect them, would it not be 
difficult to find the points of resemblance? Take, for in- 
stance, the office of bishop, which is supposed to be com- 
mon to them all, without the name, and who could find the 
identity ? The bishops of the church of Ephesus — a bishop 
of a diocess — and our universal itinerating bishops, have 
not, surely, all been made by the same inspired text ! 
Neither of the two laiter can be considered as fair and 
exact copies of the former; nor is the third like the second. 
We must say that if they were intended as fac similes, the 
artists were bad takers of likenesses, or that those who 
think they are good ones, are bad judges in such matters. 

However, I am disposed to admit, that in the primitive 
times there were by-laws and prudential rules for the better 
ordering and governing of ministerial and church matters, 
and that they cannot be well dispensed with for a length of 
time, in any large community. Where, then, lies the 
danger of error? In making such by-laws and rules like 
the laws of the Medes and Persians, which alter not. 
Whatever rule we may introduce into discipline without the 
authority of the New Testament, may be also repealed 



188 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

without its authority. The perfection and glory of the New 
Testament, in my judgment, consists in this, that it. imposes 
no such laws by prescription. To use our own language, 
Paul was a travelling preacher; James and John were local 
preachers. The idea is implied in the term "pillars." 
Now it seems that they had a "Conference," and the 
brethren gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fel- 
lowship. The evidence of grace being plain, it was mu- 
tually agreed, that Peter and his associates should continue 
to preach to the Jews, and Paul and Barnabas to the Gen- 
tiles. But, it appears, that in those days there was greater 
liberty of conscience in Antioch than any where else, and 
that, of course, it became a kind of asylum to the Jewish 
and Gentile converts. Peter and Paul happening to meet 
there, and Peter fearing lest the success of his ministry 
might be injured by the prejudices of certain Jewish con- 
verts, who had formerly belonged to James's congregation 
at Jerusalem, refused to eat with the Gentiles. Paul, as 
the ministry of the Gentiles was committed to him, magni- 
fied his office, by vindicating the principles of christian 
liberty in the very presence of Peter, and telling him plainly, 
that in giving countenance to these prejudices of education 
he would dG much harm. When shall we have such a con- 
ference as this? When will our preachers, travelling and 
local, display such fearless honesty and candor of soul ? 
Liberty — liberty and equality of rights, you see, is the soul 
and spirit of this business. These narrow prejudices of a 
Jewish education, if they had not been thus timely checked, 
would have degraded the Gentiles and their preachers. 
The tendency of our General Conference proceedings, has 
been, to make us an order of bigoted hierarchists, though 
it is plain that we have no foundation for such a super- 
structure ; and that if we had, our final success would de- 
prive us of access to three-fourths of the people in the 
United States. The majority of all the converts which we 
have made since the revolution, were by education Presby- 
terians, or Congregationalists. Why, then, this proneness 
to ride the high horse of supremacy over their heads? 
"The iron and the clay" will not mix well. We must do 
Mr. Wesley the justice to say, that his followers, when they 
have attempted to mend his plans, have often marred them. 
The General Conference would have done better, if they 
had preserved the title, superintendent, as it was in the 
first edition of the discipline. It bears the same relative 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 189 

meaning to the term bishop, that president does to king. 
King of the United States, with the same limited and re- 
stricted functions of office which the president has, could 
not be borne. The title would spoil the officer and the 
people. Old prejudices and associations are not to be 
broken at will. We can only get rid of them by changing 
names. I do not hesitate to declare, that if it were in my 
power, I would change the present titles of office for su- 
perintendent — thus superintendent of circuits and stations — 
superintendents of districts — and general superintendents. 
Insignificant as these changes may seem, even with all the 
present attributes of office attached to them, they would, I 
have no doubt, contribute much to modify the notions of 
office among us. We never think or talk about bishops in 
common and sober sense. It is a word which inspires sub- 
mission or resistance. It has been so long flattered or 
abused, that it cannot be restored to a harmless meaning, 
when applied to a living officer. 

That some great man will arise among local preachers, 
is an event to be expected in the order of things. Now, 
if the spirit of the hierarchy cannot triumph over him, he 
must become great indeed. You may live to see the day 
when some one of this order, mighty in the faith, shall be- 
gin a career of success in the spirit of an evangelist. No 
man among us, who does not thus begin, can ever be truly 
great. The foundation of all ascendency must be laid in 
extensive and pre-eminent usefulness. The local apostle 
of our times must have his seals of mission. These re- 
commendatory epistles must be written within, on the heart, 
and known and read of all men. If such a preacher shall 
know how to govern, and be conscious of his ability, will 
it require any extraordinary degree of ambition to induce 
him to claim the fruit of his labor. 

My object in making these remarks, is, to convince you 
that the present system is calculated to generate the ele- 
ments of future divisions. No other remedy presents itself 
to my mind, than for the General Conference to go back 
and begin de novo. The feudal principle and the principle 
of vassalage must be purged out of our government. It is 
time to leave oft' making servile dependents. AH who 
choose, must have the privilege, as they have the inherent 
right, to be represented in the General Conference. We 
pervert language when we despoil men of all their religious 
rights, and then call them brethren. 



190 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

The Turks, who affect to be a very consistent sort of 
people, when they deprive the Christians of all the rights 
of men, call them dogs. 

A Local Preacher. 



Letter III. 



Dear Brother, 

I have selected examples from the history of the Ro- 
man Catholic Church, because they are found there upon a 
larger scale than in any other; and as I have already observ- 
ed, because I consider them as specimens of the history of 
human nature. I do consider Roman Catholic popes and 
priests as men of like passions with ourselves. Is it not 
preposterous to consider their vices as the acts of devils, or 
their virtues as angelical ? 

Believe me, when I say that, if I have actually detected 
any resemblance between your plans and theirs, 1 do not 
suspect that it was, or is, intentional. I do not blame you 
for saying, that the entire details of no form of church go- 
vernment is given in the New Testament, but because you 
do not follow out the consequence of your position, which 
you thus assume, as you sometimes do. Why this differ- 
ence between the apostles and our system makers, who not 
only fill out their plan to the utmost minutise, but so provide 
against all changes and improvements, as to render every 
thing, from a thread to a shoe-latchet, immutable ? Was 
there not as great a danger of latitudinarianism, and inno- 
vation, in the days of the apostles, as now ? Why, then, I 
ask again, did they preserve such a seemingly guarded si- 
lence upon the details of church government ? Was it not 
because they looked forward to consequences, and foresaw 
that no model could be given, which would not be suscep- 
tible of abuse or perversion ? We, on the contrary, never 
look an inch before our noses. One swallow with us is 
enough to make a spring. We must have the bed of Pro- 
crustes to measure all our men and means by ; the taller 
must be cut off, and the shorter stretched out. If travel- 
ling preachers ever did believe that it is possible to supply 
a church forever with an itinerant ministry only, must they 
not have been as blind as bats ? And how much further 
can they now see, who believe it possible to preserve to 
themselves their present monopoly of legislative authority ? 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 191 

Examine, I beseech you, a few of the premises and the 
consequences : The Church of England had a local minis- 
try, and Mr. Wesley introduced an itinerant ministry into 
the Methodist society ; therefore, travelling preachers only 
ought to legislate for the lay preachers, and the members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Now, must not every 
body see that this conclusion savours more of lunacy than 
of logic. There is no shadow of resemblance in the two 
cases. But it is easy to foresee, that what happened in the 
former case, will be reversed in the latter. The Church of 
England held itinerants in a state of degradation, and they, 
in self-defence, made a common cause. If itinerants con- 
tinue to degrade local preachers, will they not be driven to 
unite in self-defence, and make a common cause also ? It 
is thus that wise men absolve what is written — destroy the 
equilibrium of mutual interests, and convulse religious 
society. 

Instead of studying the inspired writers, and the com- 
mentators, with a view to find out precedents for a hierar- 
chy, which, if they had ever been given, would not have 
needed the sagacity of commentators to discover them, 
you would have done well to have read them with a view 
to imbibe their spirit, so far as to have been able to appre* 
ciate that profound insight into human nature, which is es- 
sential to all good government in the church, Paul was 
deeply read in the history of the religion of his ancestors, 
and he was intimately acquainted with the internal state of 
the priesthood and the sanhedrim. Were the facts con- 
nected with the high priesthood of the Jewish church, cal- 
culated, in the judgment of a profound theorist, to recom- 
mend it as a model of the priesthood of the christian 
church ? Let it be supposed that Jesus Christ had given all 
the details for the new priesthood, as circumstantially as 
Moses did for the old, what security could have been of- 
fered that the future system would not be as much abused 
as the obsolete one ? That the office of the christian pon- 
tifex maximus would not be bought and sold as often, and 
as disgracefully, as Paul well knew the Jewish one had 
been ! 

A system which takes power from the many to give to 
one ; which sets out upon the plan of destroying all equality 
among brethren, carries evidence on its face, that its origin 
is not from Him who gave lessons to twelve fishermen — 
who taught them that they were all brethren, and that their 



192 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

master was from heaven. It is a hierarchy which suspends 
and controls the rights of Jay preachers and christians, and 
thinks it does God service in so doing. If all the lay 
preachers should go off in a body, travelling preachers 
would take no blame to themselves, and could provide no 
means of conciliation, because, as I said in my first letter, 
they degraded this body of men, without any foresight or 
suspicion of consequences, and this disposition of mind is 
as little capable of reflection upon the past, as it is of anti- 
cipation upon the future. St. Paul's maxim, so salutary to 
heal divisions, could have no application in this case, as 
those members of the church who might happen to sympa- 
thise with the lay preachers, might answer to the question, 
who, then, are travelling preachers, and who are local 
preachers, but ministers by whom ye have believed? That 
travelling preachers were much more ; that they are minis- 
ters who make laws for us, and the lay preachers too, with- 
out the consent of either us or them. 

It was not the abuse of monkery ; it was the natural con- 
sequence of the institution, that it should lead to a train of 
evils. This unnatural system is not peculiar to the Romish 
church, as is evident from the existence of the Shakers ; 
but it was the giving of those orders, an almost unbounded 
ecclesiastical patronage, which destroyed all balance, and 
made the burden and disgrace intolerable to all Europe. In 
some such way, the monopoly of power, by travelling 
preachers, may be expected to operate among us. Travel- 
ling preachers have now the exclusive church patronage ; 
under this patronage they must needs progress to wealth, 
and when their wealth shall equal their power, their means 
of domination will be complete. At no distant day, they 
must, upon the present ratio, become a wealthy body. It is 
long since my remembrance, that sixty-four dollars was the 
annual stipend of a preacher, but at this time a thousand 
dollars would not stagger the conscience. This you will say 
is not too much, and I am agreed. I only mean to say, 
that you alone have the fixing the price of your services by 
law, and while you have the rule for an hundred dollars in 
full force, you have opened a new resource : a committee 
may now say what shall be allowed for table expenses, and 
house rent, if there be no house provided for the preacher. 
Permit me to suggest, as a friend, now you have opened the 
door to the people to contract with the preacher, whether it 
would not be better for the General Conferene to withdraw 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 193 

their interference altogether from these matters, by changing 
the present question, and answer, thus: — How shall the 
wants of the preachers, &c. be apportioned and supplied 
by or at the annual conferences, &c. ? Answer — Those 
preachers who have not received one hundred dollars, and 
their wives, the widows, children, &c. shall share of the 
funds in the hands of the annual conferences, &c. This 
might, at least for the time being, save the appearance of 
legislating money into your own pockets, which, by the 
way, has a very bad appearance ; especially, as nobody can 
foresee where the process is to stop. Already your law 
admits of a ten-fold increase. 

You have all the power, and you get all the money, and 
all the glory, be the former or the latter little or much. If 
you can, in conscience, retain the power, what is to set 
bounds to your wealth and your glory ? Will you answer, 
that the annual conferences are at this time bankrupt, and 
the families of the preachers are starving ? This will only 
prove, either that you do not work your power rightly, or 
that the people are beginning to take the alarm. I, myself, 
have long known, that, heretofore, the zeal to get, and se- 
cure the power, has swallowed up almost every other con- 
cern ; that, in other cases, under the pressure of poverty, 
the eagerness to get money has become offensive , and, 
that the injudicious gains of one, has been the impoverish- 
ing of many. But all these adverse circumstances will not 
hinder a skilful hand, yet to come into office, from using 
the existing prerogatives to some better account — from 
using them so as to raise travelling preachers to wealth and 
glory. The wonder is, considering the length and breadth 
and depth of the foundation, that so little has yet been 
done. But human nature will be true to itself: Its affec- 
tions may be suspended for awhile, but, with the means of 
aggrandizement and fame within its power, its energies will 
soon again be redoubled. You, and you alone, are a privi- 
leged order in our ministry. What favors can you not 
render to yourselves, and to each other? 

A Local Preacher. 
17 



196 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

communicate their opinions freely, without violating the 
rules of prudence. Indeed, from the spirit of inquiry which 
has gone forth, they will be scarcely able to conceal their 
views without trespassing upon their sincerity as much as 
their inclination. I take it for granted, that our friends will 
be at little pains to conceal themselves. The more public- 
ly they are known, the faster their number will increase. 

I submit it therefore for consideration, whether it is not at 
this conjuncture, a dictate of prudence to avoid every mea- 
sure, which may have a tendency to^ncrease the jealousy, 
or excite the resentment of those, who are hostile to the 
agitation of questions involving our rights ; and to weaken 
the confidence of our friends in our discretion. But will 
not the presence of any delegates from us at the time and 
place of the meeting of the General Conference of 1824, in- 
duce its members to take the attitude of resistance, and tend 
to repress free debate and inquiry ? Will it not be proclaimed, 
that the enemy is at the gates ? That the standard of revolt 
is raised — and that the only security of travelling preachers 
is, in holding the title to church property by exclusively occu- 
pying the seats of the General Conference ? In the mean 
time, the members of the church who are ignorant of our 
motives and aims, and have not made themselves acquaint- 
ed with the merits of the subject of representative legislation, 
may be alarmed and rallied round the travelling preachers, 
to prevent a supposed revolution. 

My plan, therefore is, that we continue to encourage our 
friends to write, and by their writings to disseminate princi- 
ples, and leave the next General Conference, as free from 
any cause of fear or restraint as may be, and thus give them 
a fair opportunity to make a voluntary surrender of a pow- 
er, the right of which they ought to disclaim. But if they 
remain inflexible, that we then proceed to organize ourselves 
into a kind of patriotic societies, for the purpose of obtain- 
ing and securing to ourselves, the right of ecclesiastical suf- 
frage, and acquiring a knowledge of our numbers, views and 
proceedings; and that as soon as we become sufficiently 
numerous and united, we signify to travelling preachers our 
free and sovereign will, and let them know, that the time is 
come for them to yield to necessity, as they would not to 
justice and reason ; — we may add, that if they persist, all the 
blame, and all the evil of dividing themselves from the ma- 
jority of the church, must be upon their own heads. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 197 

LETTER II. 

Friends and Brethren, 

Those travelling preachers who are in favor of the con- 
tinuation of the present powers and prerogatives of the 
General Conference, to make rules and regulations for us 
without our consent, or to secure them, are not backward 
to aver, that the majority of the church are in favor of them 
also. If the question were put to vote it might so turn out; 
for, as the General Conference would have the regulating of 
the business, they might do it pretty much in their own 
way. The question in their hands will hardly be permitted 
to assume the form of "to be, or not to be" — to be free-men 
or bond>men. Were the vote actually taken, should it not 
be in a form somewhat like the following : — 1st. Do you 
believe that a church or body of faithful men have any legis- 
lative rights? — the vote to be taken in the form of ayes and 
noes ; and the noes to be numbered ; then let the ayes, or 
those in the affirmative, give a second vote ; thus — Are you 
willing to give up, renounce and surrender, without reserve, 
forever, all your legislative right, title and claim by your re- 
presentatives, or otherwise to make, form, or alter the rules 
and regulations by which you are to be governed, as mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the delegates of 
the annual conferences, in General Conference assembled ? 
Then let the two columns be added together — that is, those 
who believe they have no legislative or representative rights, 
and those who, though they do, are nevertheless willing to 
give them all up to the General Conference. Now, it is 
plain that if the majority of the votes of the whole number 
of members, taken in this way, or some other equally well 
calculated to prevent deception or error, should be against 
us, then, upon our own principles, as peaceable christians, 
we must submit, until, on some future and proper occasion, 
the vote should be again taken. 

I conceive, brethren, that even in cases where the right 
and the truth of principle is manifestly on the side of the 
minority, it is not safe to trust the power to govern the ma- 
jority, in their hands. Neither truth nor right is omnipo- 
tent in this world. The doctrine of irresistible grace, and 
once in grace always in grace, is not in our creed. 

But admitting that the majority of the church is in favor 
of all the legislative power being in the travelling preachers, 
may it not come to pass, that the travelling preachers them- 
17* 



198 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

selves may become so enlightened as to refuse to legislate 
for the church, or any body else, without their representa- 
tives ? Sacred and profane, ecclesiastical and civil history, 
furnish examples of men refusing to accept of supreme 
power, when offered to them by the people, and of others 
surrendering it, and even their own lives, as a sacrifice to 
liberty. What a redeeming and glorious day for travelling 
preachers would it be, if, when solicited by the majority of 
the church to make laws for them, or rather to hold the 
power to make them, they should answer as the olive-tree, 
and the fig-tree, and the vine, and not as the bramble 
answered the trees in the parable, "The trees went forth on 
a time to anoint a king over them ; and they said unto the 
olive-tree, reign thou over us; but the olive-tree said unto 
them, should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they 
honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 
And the trees said unto the fig-tree, come thou and rule 
over us; but the fig-tree said unto them, should I forsake 
my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go and be promoted 
over the trees ? Then said the trees unto the vine, come 
thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, should 
I leave my wine, which cherisheth God and man, and go to 
be promoted over the trees ?" This parable is, in its imagery, 
admirably calculated to cure a propensity to ambition in 
travelling preachers. The olive-tree, the fig-tree, and the 
vine, conscious of their valuable qualities, refuse to exchange 
them for the phantom of power; but the worthless and bar- 
ren bramble having none but combustible qualities, calls 
them forth to devour the servile trees, who had renounced 
their right to an independent government, and had been 
supplicating for a master — for not doing an impossible act, 
how could they stoop, and even beneath this low, mean 
bush. Have travelling preachers no fatness, nor sweetness, 
nor spirit grateful to heaven and earth, pleasing to God, and 
beneficial to man, which power cannot give, nor the loss of 
it take away? We trust they have, and may still have abun- 
dantly more. Let it be our first object to rouse them to em- 
ulation. The love of power has not been universal among 
priests, nor even among monks. The man who led the 
way in the reformation, was a priest and a monk, and seve- 
ral of his contemporaries and successors were priests. Shall 
Germany, and France, and Britain, only, furnish champions 
and martyrs for the rights of churches against priestly su- 
premacy ? Let us hope better things of American Methodist 
travelling preachers. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 199 

As the ensuing General Conference will be the first to 
meet after our legislative rights have been fairly brought in- 
to discussion, I am anxious that the experiment should have 
a trial, that we may see how they will treat it, as an abstract 
question of right. Will there be found a mover and second- 
er to bring forward and sustain the motion ? How will it be 
disposed of? Will the question be debated, &C. &-c. ? If a 
division is called for, what number will rise in its favor? 
Who will have the confidence to vote that the members of 
the church have no legislative rights ! For these are items 
on which our future proceedings must be predicated, if they 
approach to correctness. I trust there is not one among 
us, who is not disposed to judge as favorably as facts and 
circumstances will warrant of travelling preachers, much 
less to condemn them all indiscriminately, and without 
proof, as usurpers of our rights. Moreover, if the General 
Conference should possibly adopt severe and rigorous mea- 
sures, it will be very desirable to let all see that we gave them 
no pretext ; and as for any fears of pains and penalties, I 
am persuaded that if they ever existed among us, they have 
long since gone by. As conscious of our integrity as of our 
rights, and resolved by the help of grace, to walk worthy 
of our calling, no law that can be executed in our church 
can have any terrors for us. 

We shall probably for some time to come be doomed to 
hear the old logic, or rather eulogy of itinerant power. The 
duty and purity of the church cannot continue without dis- 
cipline, and discipline cannot be maintained without ex- 
clusive power in the travelling preachers, to make and exe- 
cute rules ! Take away or qualify, Or limit the power of the 
travelling preachers, and there can be no government, take 
away government and there can be no religion ! ! If it were 
not for this means, says a zealous member, we should not 
be better than other people ; and if it were not for that, says 
another, we should lose all our religion ; but the zealous 
itinerant don't lay so much stress upon these minor matters ; 
the inference from his argument is, that neither a Saviour, 
nor grace, nor sacraments, nor good preaching, nor any 
thing else can save us from ruin, without itinerant power. 
The fatness of the olive, the unction of the holy one, the 
sweetness and good fruit of the fig-tree, the precious pro- 
mises and truths of the gospel, the fruit of the vine, the wine 
of the kingdom, will be all in vain without powey.! O ye 
trees, let us rule over you ! We have indeed wrong headed 



198 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

selves may become so enlightened as to refuse to legislate 
for the church, or any body else, without their representa- 
tives ? Sacred and profane, ecclesiastical and civil historyj 
furnish examples of men refusing to accept of supreme 
power, when offered to them by the people, and of others 
surrendering it, and even their own lives, as a sacrifice to 
liberty. What a redeeming and glorious day for travelling 
preachers would it be, if, when solicited by the majority of 
the church to make laws for them, or rather to hold the 
power to make them, they should answer as the olive-tree, 
and the fig-tree, and the vine, and not as the bramble 
answered the trees in the parable, "The trees went forth on 
a time to anoint a king over them ; and they said unto the 
olive-tree, reign thou over us ; but the olive-tree said unto 
them, should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they 
honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 
And the trees said unto the fig-tree, come thou and rule 
over us; but the fig-tree said unto them, should I forsake 
my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go and be promoted 
over the trees ? Then said the trees unto the vine, come 
thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, should 
I leave my wine, which cherisheth God and man, and go to 
be promoted over the trees ?" This parable is, in its imagery, 
admirably calculated to cure a propensity to ambition in 
travelling preachers. The olive-tree, the fig-tree, and the 
vine, conscious of their valuable qualities, refuse to exchange 
them for the phantom of power; but the worthless and bar- 
ren bramble having none but combustible qualities, calls 
them forth to devour the servile trees, who had renounced 
their right to an independent government, and had been 
supplicating for a master — for not doing an impossible act, 
how could they stoop, and even beneath this low, mean 
bush. Have travelling preachers no fatness, nor sweetness, 
nor spirit grateful to heaven and earth, pleasing to God, and 
beneficial to man, which power cannot give, nor the loss of 
it take away? We trust they have, and may still have abun- 
dantly more. Let it be our first object to rouse them to em- 
ulation. The love of power has not been universal among 
priests, nor even among monks. The man who led the 
way in the reformation, was a priest and a monk, and seve- 
ral of his contemporaries and successors were priests. Shall 
Germany, and France, and Britain, only, furnish champions 
and martyrs for the rights of churches against priestly su- 
premacy ? Let us hope better things of American Methodist 
travelling preachers. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 199 

As the ensuing General Conference will be the first to 
meet after our legislative rights have been fairly brought in~ 
to discussion, I am anxious that the experiment should have 
a trial, that we may see how they will treat it, as an abstract 
question of right. Will there be found a mover and second- 
er to bring forward and sustain the motion ? How will it be 
disposed of? Will the question be debated, &,c. &c. ? If a 
division is called for, what number will rise in its favor? 
Who will have the confidence to vote that the members of 
the church have no legislative rights ! For these are items 
on which our future proceedings must be predicated, if they 
approach to correctness. I trust there is not one among 
us, who is not disposed to judge as favorably as facts and 
circumstances will warrant of travelling preachers, much 
less to condemn them all indiscriminately, and without 
proof, as usurpers of our rights. Moreover, if the General 
Conference should possibly adopt severe and rigorous mea- 
sures, it will be very desirable to let all see that we gave them 
no pretext; and as for any fears of pains and penalties, I 
am persuaded that if they ever existed among us, they have 
long since gone by. As conscious of our integrity as of our 
rights, and resolved by the help of grace, to walk worthy 
of our calling, no law that can be executed in our church 
can have any terrors for us. 

We shall probably for some time to come be doomed to 
hear the old logic, or rather eulogy of itinerant power. The 
duty and purity of the church cannot continue without dis- 
cipline, and discipline cannot be maintained without ex- 
clusive power in the travelling preachers, to make and exe- 
cute rules ! Take away or qualify, or limit the power of the 
travelling preachers, and there can be no government, take 
away government and there can be no religion ! ! If it were 
not for this means, says a zealous member, we should not 
be better than other people ; and if it were not for that, says 
another, we should lose all our religion ; but the zealous 
itinerant don't lay so much stress upon these minor matters ; 
the inference from his argument is, that neither a Saviour, 
nor grace, nor sacraments, nor good preaching, nor any 
thing else can save us from ruin, without itinerant power. 
The fatness of the olive, the unction of the holy one, the 
sweetness and good fruit of the fig-tree, the precious pro- 
mises and truths of the gospel, the fruit of the vine, the wine 
of the kingdom, will be all in vain without power I O ye 
trees, let us rule over you ! We have indeed wrong headed 



200 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

men who talk, in effect, at this random rate. Though it is 
afflicting to hear them, yet we must do all we can to teach 
them that they are not the whole body; but only members 
in particular. 

LETTER III. 

Friends and Brethren, — The difference betwixt principle 
and practice is in no case more demonstrable and of great- 
er importance than in governments, but this difference is 
generally confounded or overlooked by the friends of un- 
limited or undefined power. Any thing praiseworthy that 
is said or done by an irresponsible officer becomes a sub- 
ject of ceaseless eulogy. It is to this confusion of ideas, 
between the principle of power and the practice of men in 
power, that we are perhaps to trace the tendency of the 
human mind to idolatry and to canonize saints. There 
seems to be in every man a kind of an instinctive conscious- 
ness of a disposition to abuse power, and a consequent ap- 
prehension that it will be abused ; when, therefore, a con- 
trary result is witnessed, the surprise is so great and so 
agreeable, that admiration exceeds all bounds, and wonder- 
ful man! or holy man ! is echoed in all directions; but if 
the successor of the hero or the saint happens to exhibit a 
contrast of character, this feeling is heightened to its utmost 
degree. 

The biographies of our Coke's, and Asbury's, and M'Ken- 
dree's, will, it is probable, at no distant day, be enhanced 
beyond all price in the estimation of all those who may feel 
the domination of some successors of these primitive bish- 
ops, who can see nothing in them worthy of imitation but 
their power. Now, if the next General Conference should 
concede to us all we ask, without giving up the principle 
of right to make laws for us without our consent, must we 
not confound principle with practice, if we should suppose 
that our relation were actually changed, or that they had laid 
us under any obligation of gratitude to them ? 

The gOGd men who have entailed their power upon us, 
have not, unfortunately, entailed their virtues upon their 
successors, and of course have left us without security or 
antidote against its effects. Though these holy men may 
be canonized, it will be in vain to pray to them ; their names 
and their virtues will be equally useless to us under the bad 
administration of their successors. Though it may sound 
paradoxical, and even impious, to say that the correct prin- 
ciples of bad dead men are of more value, than the good 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 201 

actions of virtuous dead ones; the assertion would never- 
the less be entitled to some regard. This bad man left be- 
hind him something good — that good man taught us no- 
thing truly. To admire goodness is one thing, and to know 
how to imitate it, another. When all the bishops and tra- 
velling preachers who maintain the right to govern the 
church without its consent, shall have died, will they have 
left behind them a single principle or maxim by which the 
evils of a bad government may be corrected ? The person- 
al vices of men die with them, and the same lot must needs 
befall the virtues of good men ; but the principles of truth 
depend not upon the virtues or the vices of those from 
whose tongues or pens they flow, either for their efficacy or 
durability. The biographies of our bishops, and the acts 
of our general and annual conferences, will furnish no prin- 
ciples of church government to posterity to guide them 
through the labyrinth of error or to rescue them from the 
artful and winding policy of ambitious rulers. It will be of 
little consequence therefore to know whether they govern- 
ed personally well or ill. 

I offer these hints, brethren, with a view to influence you 
to direct your attention to principles, as a subject of prima- 
ry importance. We cannot too carefully gaurd aganist the 
artifices of the patrons and abettors of undefined power. 
The real and fictitious histories of good kings and sovereign 
priests, have a tendency to promote civil and religious su- 
premacy ; most of these are actually written for that ex- 
press purpose; and their effects can only be countervailed 
by a careful discrimination between principle and practice. 
The advocates for liberal and balanced governments, are 
evidently prone to expose the vices of irresponsible rulers; 
and, their opponents of course to find or to create eminent 
examples to the contrary. Now the tendency in the hu- 
man mind naturally is, as I have shown, both to admit and 
to magnify the virtues of men in power. It is evident, 
therefore, that there is little hope of being able to enlist 
men generally on the side of liberty, by merely inveighing 
against the vices of rulers. The most that can be done by 
this means is, to change men, and that not always for the 
better. I assume it as a position that we have now, and 
shall always have, saints enough in our calendar, if the 
matter were put upon this issue, to maintain the supremacy 
of travelling preachers. If so, the inference is undeniable, 
that unless we mean to raise up and strengthen a party, at 



202 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

all events, we shall rather injure than promote the cause 
of suffrage, by interfering with the private characters of rul- 
ing men. 

In regard to ourselves, the question of right, I trust is 
settled. On this point we can have no doubt. Let it be 
gained or lost, used or abused, let us be in the majority or 
in the minority, the right is inviolable ; but our brethren are 
not convinced, and we must not attempt to force them while 
they are ignorant or out of the way ; we must have com- 
passion upon them. The law of Christ enjoins it upon us to 
bear their burthens. If we had nothing to say, no evidence, 
no argument to bring to convince them, we might grow im- 
patient of delays, or despair of gaining our cause ; but as 
the case now stands, nothing but our own imprudence or 
want of skill can prevent success. We can convince our 
brethren that we do not want power for its own sake ; that 
we will not divide it with them ; and that we give all we 
demand: When we reign, they must reign with us; so they 
will have St. Paul's wish. 

LETTER IV. 

It is impossible to say in what manner we should act in 
maintaining our religious claims and controversies, if we 
were ignorant of all foreign examples; for, though we are all 
men of like passions with our European ancestors, our sit- 
uations and circumstances are very different from theirs. I 
think I can trace a connexion in religious feelings and man- 
ners from the Brachmans of Hisdostan through the Meho- 
medans to Europe, and through the Roman Catholics to the 
Reformed. The spirit and temper of the Hindoos as dis- 
played in their casts, seem to me to have been transfused 
among Medomedans and Christians, and to have become the 
ground of their monopoly of power and bigotry. This un- 
relenting and intolerant spirit when it commingled with the 
fierce and barbarian dispositions of the tribes of Asia and 
Europe, displayed itself in the love of proselytism and re- 
acted with dreadful effect upon the Brachmins who had be- 
come too numerous, proud and self-sufficient to give them- 
selves the trouble of making new converts by force or per- 
suasion. And the soldiers of the cross emulating those of 
the crescent had extended their conquest nearly over the 
globe; our own great republic is the only country of con- 
siderable extent in which this intolerant spirit does not pre- 
vail, and even among us some vestiges of it are occasion- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 203 

ally found; an instance of which I may advert to; as the 
situation of our church property, &c. &c, admits of our 
being involved in a similar contest; of the particulars I need 
say nothing, as they have been circulated in all directions 
by the newspapers. In the Catholic church in Philadelphia, 
the contest it seems was about the bishop's preachers, and 
the people's preacher. With us too the appointment of the 
preacher is with the bishop, and of course a similar collision 
of interests might happen, and indeed I see nothing to pre- 
vent it, if we are governed by the examples which have been 
furnished us in the countries of our ancestors. It behooves 
us then to beware of European precedents, our tempers, 
our manners, and our language should be American. 

The familiar term sect, for instance, cannot be employed 
in this country in the same sense as it is in Europe; in the 
latter country it means those who have separated from a 
national or legally established church ; but among us there 
are no sects; no bodies cut off, as there is no body to be 
cut off or separated from. No religious order is tolerated 
here, for all are equally free. For a man therefore to say in 
this country, I am of no sect, can only mean, I am of no 
religion; and not, I belong to a legally established church 
as in Europe ; but if he proceeds a step further and sets up 
for himself without subjecting his conduct to the investiga- 
tion of any religious society, instead of being the free man 
he affects to be ; he becoms in fact above all religious laws. 
The civil law can take no cognizance of him in his religious 
capacity, and he stands independent of all responsibility to 
any religious denomination. Religious order and liberty in 
this country can only be maintained upon social principles. 
The same powers in this country, and in Europe, in the 
hands of a church officer, might operate very different ef- 
fects, as in Europe the civil law may interfere to check or 
control it. 

We have a two-fold part to act — not only to assert and 
maintain our own rights ; but also to respect the rights of 
others. We must, therefore, it seems to me, if we will not 
submit to the privation of our rights until we find ourselves 
in the majority, withdraw from the church and declare our- 
selves independent. The latter procedure, it is well known, 
would be much more pleasing to the advocates for the 
powers that be, than any attempt at enlightening and re- 
forming the people. Whether the few or the many withdraw, 
the church property will still be in the hands of the General 



204 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Conference of travelling preachers ; but if the right 6f 
church representation obtains, power will be dispensed 
and property held by the representatives of the majority of 
the people, as well as the preachers ; and these representa- 
tives of free men must be governed by the rules and regu- 
lations which they legislate. Now can any thing be more 
plain, than that if each individual member becomes so im- 
patient under his privation of rights, as to withdraw from 
the church, all hope of gaining a majority is at an end. 
Our strength must depend upon our union, and our union 
upon our continuing in common fellowship. Should nine- 
tenths of the members withdraw, the excellent laws of our 
country would protect the remaining tenth in the quiet pos- 
session of the church property, and such preacners as the 
General Conference should authorise to preach in the 
houses. If I really meant to withdraw from the connexion, 
I should consider myself no more entitled to interfere with 
its internal concerns, than with those of any other denomi- 
nation. The laws of our country and of society allow us 
to go, or to stay, but not to do both. While we continue 
in the church, we may plead for our rights ; when the social 
tie is dissolved, all our claims cease. 

While I feel free to condemn all lukewarmness, all ten- 
dency to indifference or apostacy among our friends, I am 
fully aware, that our greater danger is, where in other cases 
it has been ever found to be, in some hasty or rash step. 
Oppression, says the proverb, makes a wise man mad. It 
requires more than wisdom to endure the privation of our 
social and religious rights. Our feelings can only be sus- 
tained in such a state by unusual forbearance and fortitude. 
When the travelling preachers begin to find that we are not 
to be diverted from our purpose, that we neither slumber 
nor sleep upon our post, nor can be provoked unto wrath ; 
can neither be flattered nor frowned out of our rights, a 
majority of them admiring our magnanimity, will emulate 
our zeal in this sacred cause. Let us furnish history with 
at least one example, of a church achieving its rights from 
the hands of its preachers, without the loss of confidence 
and affection, and without division. Such a record will be 
scarcely less honorable to the preachers than to ourselves. 
For though it must appear that they held power to which 
they had no right, their readiness in yielding it, will prove 
that their hearts were not hardened by the love of it. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 205 

LETTER V. 

Friends and Brethren, 

Few causes have, perhaps, misled more men into deeds 
of desperate doing, than overcharged accounts of the suc- 
cess of individuals. Great names, and leading names are 
found in every age and every country ; but, after all that 
has been said in their praise, not a little of their conse- 
quence is found to proceed from the rhetorical figure, which 
puts a part for the whole. In their highest capacity, a part 
of their usefulness was of the negative kind ; they kept 
others, it may be of less ability, out of their places. Every 
cause, in its incipient state, is exposed to hazard by a fre- 
quent change of leaders. The Luthers, and Calvins, and 
Wesleys, and Washingtons, did as much by securing and 
keeping the public confidence steady, if not more, than by 
great personal actions. A host of great men, co-operated 
to effect the reformation. The advantages in learning and 
piety were actually in their favor ; and that subsequent emi- 
nence to which the clergy of the Church of Rome attained, 
was, in part, owing to their being provoked to jealousy. 
Melancthon, as Greek professor, at Wirtemberg, is said to 
have sometimes had an audience of fifteen hundred persons. 
What could Wesley have done alone ? The success of 
Methodism, bore about the same proportion to that of the 
reformation, as to the number and talents of the men en- 
gaged. 

But neither the ability of the leaders, nor the number and 
distinction of their colleagues, are to be considered inde- 
pendently of times and circumstances. A train of causes, 
prepares the way for great events. Times suit men, and 
men suit times. At the close of our revolutionary war, one 
of our patriots, who was exulting in our success, was re- 
plied to by a royalist, that he considered it no great cause 
of triumph, for America, and France, and Spain, and Hol- 
land, and half the British nation, to conquer the other half. 
This reply is, in point, as far as the agency of individuals 
is in consideration. Washington lived to concentrate and 
keep the public confidence steady. This, to be sure, is 
matter of great praise; but of itself, could not have ensured 
success. We had foreign friends and allies; and at home, 
the balance of learning and talent, as well as of members, 
were in favor of independence. Our congress, and our 
camp, abounded in men of genius and education ; men 



206 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

ready-made for the work which was made for them. The 
same cause, and the same leader, under other circumstances, 
might have been defeated. 

In regard to our own cause, (the right of church repre- 
sentation,) my hopes of its success do not rest solely upon 
its abstract merits, nor the merits of any champion who 
may rise to maintain it. but also upon the signs of the times. 
I trust the time, the set time, to favor it, is come ; and I am 
deceived if the weight of talent is not on our side. We 
have a goodly number of men in the ministry, and in the 
church, who understand and love the subject And the 
discussion of it cannot fail to wake up and call forth much 
hidden talent. Genius slumbers and affection languishes 
among us, for the want of incitement and concentration. 
It is not enough to cry liberty or death ; our motto should 
be, "we honor our rights, and we will have them." I hope 
to see the day, when every travelling preacher, who has the 
hardihood to assert thct he has the right to legislate for a 
church, without its consent, will be told temperately, but 
firmly, by all its members, that he receives no thanks for his 
legislative officiousness, and that his principles are disap- 
proved of. 

The poor man, in the proverb, who, by his wisdom, de- 
livered the city, sets, in a clear point of view, the little value 
mankind place upon individuals who perform incidental 
acts, though of the greatest importance. This same poor 
man was not remembered. Tnis proverb is modernized 
into the well known maxim, "Republics are ungrateful." 
But republicans must know the nature and value of liberty, 
achieve it themselves, and be the protectors and guardians 
of their own rights. If a few men secure to us our legislative 
rights, without our hearty co-operation, neither they, nor 
their benefits, will be remembered. A war of eight years, 
was, probably as necessary to teach our countrymen the 
value of their rights as to secure them. 

We have proclaimed to the world our principles and our 
views. May I not say, that we neither contend for men nor 
measures; but for a principle of right. Power is not satis- 
fied with temporary dominion ; it ever aims to extend and 
perpetuate itself to all generations. The men who have 
labored all their lives, to maintain the right to make laws 
for their contemporaries, without their consent, cannot die 
in peace, unless they can impose this system upon all pos- 
terity. One of their most pleasing anticipations, on a 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 207 

dying bed, is, that unborn millions will live without a ves- 
tige or shadow of legislative rights. Not so with us, breth- 
ren. It is no concern of ours who shall govern, or how 
our posterity may be governed. All our aim is, to transmit 
to them the right to choose, and to make laws for them- 
selves. But this precious legacy we cannot transmit to our 
successors, unless we, ourselves, enjoy it. These remarks 
are not suggested by fear or jealousy. I should hail the 
appearance of any man, among us, with integrity and ta- 
lents sufficient to qualify him for a leader; but the absence 
of such a man neither fills me with despair nor discourage- 
ment. If we are true to ourselves, and to our cause, we 
must make many friends, and the man who is worthy to go 
before us, cannot long be concealed. We stand in need of 
no factitious ecclesiasticism, (if I may coin a word.) Is 
there a Methodist in the United States who would blush to 
be called a lover of the rights of his church ? No. The 
men who follow in the train of certain busy, and certain 
noisy preachers, are bewildered and confounded. It will 
be a work of time to recover them to their reflection. But 
the first day that they are left to think for themselves, they 
will think as we do. Our cause is so plain, so simple, so 
identical, that as soon as the dust, which has been thrown 
to obscure it, subsides, there will be no dissent of opinion ; 
no halting; no equivocating. From centre to circumfer- 
ence, but one voice will be heard — our rights — renounce 
our rights ! — give us our rights, ye travelling preachers ! 
If we choose to let you legislate for us, put it in our power 
to do so, by proclaiming to the world, that you have no 
right to make laws for us without our consent. 

My counsel still is, brethren, let us be temperate, but let 
us be firm ; and, especially, let us give no occasion to the 
present holders of power to cherish false hopes, or false 
fears. On all occasions, let us give them distinctly to un- 
derstand, that the principle of right is ours, and we never 
will give it up, or accept any act of theirs as a substitute 
for it. 

LETTER VI. 

Friends and Brethren, 

The most ruinous consequences are dreaded by some 
of the travelling preachers, from giving lay delegates a seat 
in the General Conference. Do these men judge others by 
themselves ? How is it that they cannot perceive that there 



208 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

is no affinity betwixt a delegated legislature, and a self- 
created one ? Can any contrast be much greater, under 
the same name, and in the same office? Few stations in 
society can be occupied by its members, in which they are 
rendered less potent, and less dangerous, to its public liber- 
ties, than that of representatives in a deliberative legislative 
body. Presumptive evidence is not wanting, that men 
have been induced to stand a poll for seats in our national 
legislature, not less for the sake of placing themselves in 
the way of promotion, than for the sake of the high trust, 
and proof of confidence, they might thus acquire. I agree 
with those who think it will be difficult, if not impractica- 
ble, to obtain a lay delegation, to attend the General Con- 
ference, in numbers sufficient to represent the church. But 
what would this prove if it were the fact ? Not, surely, 
that lay delegation would be dangerous ; but the reverse. 
Ambition, and the consciousness of power, are the strongest 
incentives to public action, in social life. How many ex- 
amples does history furnish, that, if they have not been able 
to succeed in overcoming the love of liberty by force, they 
have wearied it out by perseverance. It is altogether idle 
to talk of the danger of church representation, as the re- 
presentatives must be subject to the rules and regulations 
which they make, and are unable to execute them. The 
only danger to be dreaded from legislators is, when they are 
self-created and perpetual ; and, of course, have executive 
authority to compel obedience to their laws, without any 
inconvenience to themselves. These are the men, who can 
bind heavy burdens upon others, and grievous to be borne, 
without touching them with one of their fingers. I am so 
well aware of the harmlessness of a church representation, 
and by consequence of our being unable to produce excite- 
ment sufficient to keep up a lay delegation, when there may 
be no particular apprehension of danger to the common 
liberty, that, if the travelling preachers would give up the 
principle of right, I should be disposed to advise that some 
provision might be made, in case lay delegates should not 
be obtained, that the annual conferences might fill up the 
number; providing, always, that the power be left as entire 
in the church, as the right to elect their own delegates at 
every succeeding election. By this means, if it should still 
come to pass, that none but travelling preachers should 
compose the General Conference, they should be held re- 
sponsible, knowing that the church would always have the 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 209 

power to send their own proper delegates to obtain a repeal 
of obnoxious rules, &,c. In this way, the silence of the 
church would give consent to the travelling preachers to 
legislate for it ; and the members of the General Confer- 
ence would feel the responsibility of representatives. The 
church, in the mean time, conscious of its own indepen- 
dence, would watch over its rights, and communicate its 
opinions to the preachers, as their equals. My attention, 
brethren, in writing these letters, has been almost exclu- 
sively confined to the subject. In their composition, I 
have aimed at nothing more than to make myself to be un- 
derstood. I consider this as no occasion either for fine 
writing, or for argument. Let us reserve our rhetorick, and 
our logic, for the opposers of our rights. The great point 
for consideration now is, how we may best arrange our plan 
of operation, so as to unite our opinions and energies — 
how produce the greatest effect with the least labor, and 
accomplish our object with the fewest chances of defeat. 

I solicit, therefore, an earnest and diligent attention to 
the hints which I have thus thrown together, with little re- 
gard to method, as it is time we should begin to think se- 
riously of shaping our course, and of adopting our plan of 
future co-operation. I hope brethren will be prompt and 
frank in their communications. I am not confident that 
my views are the best which can be offered, nor am I tena- 
cious. If any other, in my judgment, equally, or less cor- 
rect, shall meet with more general approbation, I shall ac- 
quiesce. Union and mutual confidence, I hold to be of 
greater importance, than the most plausible untried theories 
which can be offered. If it shall be the prevailing opinion 
that it will be best to send messengers to the next General 
Conference, be it so. 

In concluding, I cannot forbear to repeat, that I hope, 
whatever may be the plan pursued, it will be ever borne in 
mind by us all, that travelling preachers are not to be con° 
sidered merely as members of the General Conference. 
They bear other relations to us, and we to them, in which 
we have many things in common, which ought to be equally 
dear to us both. 

It is true, indeed, that they have drank deep in the cup 
of power; but I have the happiness to know, that there are 
not a few among them, who are not intoxicated with the 
potent draught. 

Here, a letter from Dr. Jennings to the Editor appears, 

18* 



810 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 

No. 40. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. September, 1823, No. v. page 175. 

On avoiding the appearance of Evil. 

When I was a boy, I was fond of listening to the con- 
versations of old men, and would often sit, for hours to- 
gether, with the greatest attention, if their conversation 
happened to turn upon any thing new, or surprising. Now 
it so happened, that those to whose company I had most 
frequent access, were either careless about religion, or in- 
fidel in their principles. I well recollect a conversation 
which turned upon the pride of the clergy, and a stern old 
infidel, by one sweeping clause, involved them all in the 
charge ; to use his own words, "from his holiness, the Pope, 
down to the most pitiful Quaker speaker:" There were 
no Methodist preachers among us then. This indiscrimi- 
nate kind of censure, against whole bodies of men, for par- 
ticular vices, is undoubtedly wrong. The virtues of the 
heart, thanks to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, 
are not confined to any order or class of men. This dis- 
position to pass universal censure upon whole classes of 
men, is commonly found to be associated with a confused 
notion in men's minds, respecting moral virtues, and theo- 
retical principles; but examples every where abound, of 
proud men being right in their speculations, and humble 
men wrong. 

Whenever any system of ministerial polity is founded 
upon principles which are known, by experience, to pro- 
mote the ambition and the pride of human nature, these 
will generally be found to be the besetting sins of those 
who act under its influence. Priests are often suspected of 
ambition or pride, for the same reasons that kings are; and 
when they are both equally absolute in their sphere of au- 
thority, equally above the control of law, and above human 
responsibility, it is difficult to make exceptions in their 
favor. 

Unquestionably, if there be any truth in history, priests 
have been actuated by a boundless ambition, in many in- 
stances, and the human race have bled copiously to gratify 
them. Every body has heard of the bishop who made an 
Emperor hold his stirrup, and walk barefooted, &c. This 
must needs have been a haughty priest, indeed ! The evil 
of clerical dominion — of a monopoly of power in the hands 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 211 

of priests — of the ministers of the gospel having unrepre- 
sented power to make laws for a church, &c. &,c. is of 
such vast magnitude, that it behooves all who bear the sa- 
cred character, to avoid the very appearance of it. But, 
unfortunately, appearances are against the travelling preach- 
ers, and it seems as if several of them are taking measures, 
rather to increase than to diminish them. For the thirty- 
six years of our independent existence, the proceedings of 
the preachers have had a suspicious appearance, and a 
hawk-eyed infidel, judging from the face of things, would be 
very apt to pronounce the whole to savour strongly of a 
love of domination. Appearances of evil might be detect- 
ed in the council, and some of the first General Confer- 
ences. A tradition, for instance, has come down to our 
days, from those ancient times, that there was a kind of se- 
lect committee fixed upon, to prepare the business for the 
brethren, a measure which appeared, for all the world, as 
though it was intended to keep certain points from being 
agitated in General Conference. The story goes, that the 
boys, after sauntering about for some time, on the sugges- 
tion of some one, met together to talk over their own mat- 
ters, as how they might manage, to better account, the 
L'argent. While these things were going on, one came 
and whispered to the president in committee, that the 
preachers were holding a General Conference by themselves, 
The alarm was spread, and the president was despatched 
with a most loving message for the brethren to come down 
and take their seats forthwith. We do not mean to accuse 
brethren of priestcraft, but only to show how the appear- 
ance of it may injure them, and of course urge upon them 
the necessity of avoiding it. Nothing, in our whole his- 
tory, has so much the appearance of priestcraft, as the con- 
struction of the restrictions of 1808. These restrictio ns 
have been dubbed a constitution — a term sacred to liberty. 
Now, let this business, with all its bearings and relations, 
come under the eye of an infidel, who has no confidence 
in the regards of preachers for the rights and liberties of 
the church, and would he not find appearances enough to 
induce him to exclaim, "Priestcraft still." What have 
these men done, would he not say? Why, they contrived 
to monopolise all the legislative and executive power, and 
finding that they were in danger of losing a part, they en- 
deavor to make all sure, by using the name of a constitu- 
tion, which was never before employed, except to secure 



212 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

liberty against the encroachments of power. What would 
be thought of the Grand Turk, for instance, if he should 
oppose any plan to favor the liberties of the people, be- 
cause it was unconstitutional. Constitutions were designed 
to set bounds to power. The people of the United States, 
in 1787, made a constitution to prevent absolute monarchy, 
not to confirm it. The Barons of England met on Runne 
mede, to set bounds to the power of the kings, and not to 
form a great charter of despotism. Thus might an artful 
infidel argue against us, from appearances; and might go 
on to say, that our constitutional abettors have no parallel, 
except in the Holy Alliance ; and slily and sneeringly in- 
sinuate, that those crowned heads, possibly, called their 
combined councils, in their own behalf, holy, because holy 
priests had set them the example. Now, in this case, it is 
of no use to rail at infidels, for judging according to appear- 
ances of evil, as those appearances ought to have been 
avoided. 

For bishops and travelling preachers to employ the re- 
striction only to restrain the hands of those who labor to 
promote liberty, makes them appear so much like tyrants, 
that, let them assert to the contrary ever so loudly, people 
will say, "actions speak louder than words! " Why will they 
not be entreated to forbear to argue, that they have a con- 
stitution which shuts up all the avenues, by which liberty 
can possibly enter into the church, so that it never can gain 
an admittance unless those who have seated themselves in 
power, shall condescend 10 open the door. All the circum- 
stances connected with this constitutional claim, which has 
been set up and pursued with so much perseverance, ap- 
pears to threaten evil consequences. When our country- 
men find every idea which they have been in the habit of 
attaching to a constitution reversed, and instead of this 
instrument being a palladium of liberty, as they sup- 
posed, becoming the mere charter of self-created and mo- 
nopolized power, must they not lose all confidence in the 
agents who produced this transformation. Meanwhile, 
what can we say, as long as appearances continue to be so 
much against us? If brethren will have it that we have a 
constitution, and we yield, it will only involve them in a 
new dilemma. For it must appear, to the most superficial 
observer, that it is a tyrannical one; that it took away our 
rights, and prevents us from recovering them. thou cru- 
el and unjust constitution, how can we love and reverence 
thee? 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 213 

But to proceed with appearances: "We have three bish- 
ops; one of them says, the giving of power to the annual 
conferences, in the choice of the presiding elders, is un- 
constitutional. A second says, it is not; and a third uses 
the term without any precise technical meaning. He 
grants that the change will take from the episcopacy some 
of its former power, but he is willing to part with it. Of 
course he believes there is nothing in the restrictions to pre- 
vent the annual conferences from electing presiding elders. 
The discipline does not guarantee to the bishops the pow- 
er of appointing the presiding elders. The zeal and per- 
severance of the first bishop, it seems, were thought to be 
deserving of a vote of thanks, which, it is said, was accord- 
ingly given by a certain annual conference. It becomes a 
question, whether there is any appearance of evil in this 
transaction ? Though it is a matter of some delicacy to say 
in what degree, if any, it betrays an appearance of want of 
wisdom and candor. Neither the bishop himself, nor any 
body else, ever pretended to show a single letter of author- 
ity. Their constitution is only implied or inferred ; that is, 
it is matter of opinion. The opinions of the bishops, as 
well as the preachers, differ, and a conference who coin- 
cide with one of them in opinion, give him a vote of thanks 
for thinking as they do. Does not this appear very much 
like a vote of no thanks to those who dared to think for 
themselves, though their way of thinking went to take pow- 
er out of their own hands ? 

It is said, that when a Chinese is punished or chastised 
by a Mandarin, he returns his most humble and grateful ac- 
knowledgment to that high officer, for the fatherly care he 
has taken of his education. The law, it is presumed, obli- 
ges him to do so. Is there any law to authorize an annu- 
al conference to vote thanks to a bishop for taking care of 
number one ? These thanks have so much the appearance 
of flattery, that they seem to come under the command, to 
"avoid;" or there is, at least, so much of the appearance 
of evil in this matter, that it is to be hoped, that the exam- 
ple will not be followed. Suppose a conference of the op- 
posite opinion, should vote thanks to those bishops who 
think as they do, would not the appearance be something 
like division betwen the bishops and conferences. Per- 
haps those grateful brethren in the south did not think of 
that. 

Those who construe a law in favor of liberty, have cer- 



214 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

tainly more reason on their side, than those who construe 
it into a constitution hostile to the rights of ministers and 
christians. Appearances in the former case are good; in 
the latter they are evil. Nothing, in these cross questions, 
has been a source of greater regret, than the strange insen- 
sibility to consequences which has been manifested. If 
brethren can only persuade the annual conferences to vote 
the conciliation unconstitutional, they will cheerfully give 
up the power to choose the presiding elders, and this they 
magnify into an astonishing sacrifice to peace; and yet 
the art of man cannot divest it of the appearance of sacrifi- 
cing to their own drag, and offering incence to their own 
net. As though they might say, we differ in opinion, breth- 
ren, but you must first give us all we demand, before we 
will yield. And when we grant you what you ask, it shall 
be in such a way as to make you compromit yourselves, 
and render you forever dependent upon our opinions. Ac- 
knowledge before the world, that you were wrong, and we 
were right. Acknowledge, that neither the ministry nor 
the church have a single solitary right. But, if they want 
anything, they must go, cap- in hand, to all the annual con- 
ferences, and having gained their petition, with the good 
will of two-thirds of the General Conference, they may have 
the desire of their hearts. 

Now we begin to feel the force of the maxim, "Physician 
heal thyself." "Avoid the appearance of evil." Never are 
our feelings nearer the point of ascendency, than when we 
touch upon this subject. We pause — we reflect — and com- 
mand our stormy feelings down ; but our temperance shall 
not destroy our firmness. We can never consent to re- 
ceive as a favor, what we claim as a right. Homer 
tells us a curious story of one Glaucus, who, in exchang- 
ing pledges of friendship, became so infatuated as "to 
exchange gold for brass — -an hundred beeves for the val- 
ue of one." Liberty is so sacred, and held by so many 
equal and common claims, that we may not seem nor ap- 
pear to yield it, without a full equivalent. But our brethren 
do not even offer us brass for our gold. If the choice of 
the presiding elders were conceded to the annual confer- 
ences, upon the proposed conditions, what travelling preach- 
er would have the heart to vote for them, when his ticket 
would be price of his liberty and the liberty of the church? 
For these paltry tickets would ever patriot preacher say, and 
say it with a heart wrung with grief, were our rights barter- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 215 

tered away, and what do we get in exchange? Why the 
choice of one master out of three, (who may be changed 
the day after the conference adjourns.) Appearances are 
gloomy. Let the lovers of liberty beware, lest they lose a 
substance in pursuit of a shadow. 

A Preacher. 



IVo. 41. 

Wes!eyan Repository, vol. iii. September, 1823, No. v. page 193. 

Very serious thoughts upon the manner of electing local 
preachers for ordination, 

"Do as you would be done by." — When men have any 
thing to do with men, if one party does not feel the force of 
this rule, the other will feel the want of it. — The characters 
and names of law-makers are fixed by it. When they do 
as they would be done by, states and churches are free ; but 
when they make laws for others, by which they themselves 
are not governed, states and churches are not free. In the 
latter case, they break this golden rule. 

Formerly, local preachers might be made deacons, by a 
certificate of a certain number of travelling elders, deacons, 
or preachers ; now they must be elected by the annual con- 
ference ; and the same rule applies in the making of local 
elders. Who made and altered these rules? Travelling 
preachers. Who were they made for ? Local preachers. 
When so chosen, do local preachers become members of 
the annual conferences? No. They must first travel two 
years, like unordained men. Travelling preachers make 
laws for local preachers, by which they themselves, are not 
governed; and, they elect others for ordination who are not 
of their own body. Is this doing as they would be done by ? 
Let us try the rule by making it work both ways. Suppose 
that local preachers, in the same manner should make laws 
for themselves only, and elect travelling preachers to office 
without giving them a seat in their own body, would travel- 
ling preachers submit without a murmur ? — or would they 
not say, you do not as you would be done by ? — what right 
have you local preachers to bind us without our consent, 
and to tie up the hands of the bishops not to ordain us 'till 
you choose ? — Is it right for you to elect men, whom you 
will not suffer to have a seat among you? If the local 



216 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

preachers should thus attempt to govern travelling preach* 
ers, would not the latter make all places ring again with 
complaints of the abuse of power ? 

It is a very serious thing to trample under foot the rights 
of local preachers, and then expose their characters in an an- 
nual conference to be trifled with. The presiding elder is 
to take the names of those who are to be voted for, and if 
he and a few others, who know them, speak a good word, 
they are elected — if not, who would vote against their judg- 
ment? What a range is here for a want of knowledge and 
good will to display themselves in. These travelling preach- 
ers cannot be called to account — a local preacher can have 
no redress. No matter what is said to injure him, he may 
neither hear nor reply. Let the church and the bishops be 
ever so willing, the will of the conference would be too 
strong for theirs. How came travelling preachers by this 
power ? They took it upon themselves ; they hold it because 
they will; giving account to none for the use of it. As it 
was not made by the golden rule, so it is not used by that 
rule. No good reason can be given for the use of this 
power. It savours more of contempt or of jealousy of epis- 
copal ordination, than any thing else ; but — . Even a 

bishop may not ordain a local preacher without the vote of 
an unordained travelling preacher ? Has not a bishop as 
good an opportunity to know the character of a local preach- 
er as a conference ; and is he not as good a judge of cha- 
racter ? 

A chapter of the garter, (says Chesterfield, in one of his 
letters,) is to be held at St. James's next Friday; in which 
Prince Edward, &>c. are to be elected knight's companions 
of the order of the garter. Though solely nominated by 
the crown, they are said to be elected ; because there is a 
pretended election, &c. There, every knight pretends to 
write a list of those for whom he intends to vote — taking 
care, however, to insert the names of those who are really 
elected ; then the Bishop of Salisbury, who is always the 
Chancellor of the order, goes round the table, and takes the 
paper ol each knight, pretends to look into them, and then 
declares the majority of votes to be for those persons who 
are nominated by the crown, &c. All ceremonies, says 
this father, to his son, are very silly things, &c. Is not our 
ordination reduced, by the power of the conference, in the 
case of local preachers, to a mere ceremony. All that the 
local preachers and the bishops do, is pretty much in sub- 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 217 

stance like the chapter of the garter. The annual confer- 
ence, in our case, is in the place of the king. It is won- 
derful to think how tamely our bishops submit to the andro- 
ides of the annual conference. But that travelling preach- 
ers should continue to maintain and exercise this sovereign 
power between local preachers, and to look this great and 
free people, the citizens of the United States, in the face, 
without blushing, is passing strange. If any thing were really 
given, or meant to be given, in this vote, by the voters, one 
would not feel so much surprise and regret. But, as tra- 
velling preachers do not intend to raise an ordained local 
preacher to any measure of power above that of a lay 
preacher, or a noviciate, and subject a local elder to a two 
years' probation before he can be a member of an annual 
conference, it seems as though they not only held ordina- 
tion in contempt, but meant to mar the work of their own 
hands. A stranger who should judge by the fears and cau- 
tions which appear in the proofs of our ordination, would be 
led to suppose, that an ordained local preacher is, among 
us something more than common. Nothing like it, he and 
his office are still cyphers ; a thousand of them stand as 
naughts, without some travelling integer. A thousand local 
elders could not take into the church a single member, or 
govern one ; but it requires not ordination in a travelling 
preacher to do either. It would be desirable to know if 
there be any such cases in the records of the church, or 
whether they are worth any thing. All the cases now re- 
collected differ from ours, as they exalt ordination, instead 
of tending to debase it. Really, travelling elders, who are 
so very zealous of episcopal ordination, might, one would 
think, forbear this kind of officiousness, out of respect for 
the holy hands of the bishops; and if they cannot get the 
better of their fears of local elders, take them into their own 
body, where they can watch over them for good. What 
more can a Presbyterian do to lower a bishop, than travel- 
ling preachers have done, who will not trust him to ordain 
a deacon without their consent? But all this is done, it 
seems, to guard the travelling cause. Need these brethren 
now be told, that the thing they greatly feared has come 
upon them ; that the very colored people do without them 
or their bishops. In a country so free as this, why will men 
dream of force to compel opinion ! 

St. Paul said, he did not write certain things to shame a 
church, and it were to be wished that there were room in 
19 



218 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

this case to say the same ; but there is truly matter for 
shame ; brethren ought to blush at the thought of this un- 
heard of power. Ordination was kept back from local 
preachers for years, in spite of the bishops, and now it is 
given in a way only calculated to humble them both, and 
exalt the annual conferences. The qualifications for our 
holy orders being pointed out, let the persons to be ordained 
come properly recommended to the bishops, by the body of 
which they are members, and let it be the bishop's duty to 
see that they are not imposed upon ; and, not let one order 
of elders ride over the heads of another. All the world might 
be challenged to show the justice of the present manner of 
electing local preachers for ordination. It ought to be the 
business of the over-looker, to see that the local conferen- 
ces do their duty. It is not right to transfer their work to 
the annual conferences, who have neither time nor place to 
do it in ; and if they had, they are not able to judge of men 
and things of which they have not the knowledge. 



No. 42. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. September, 1823, No. v. page 196. 

NeaVs History of the Puritans. 

In looking over Mr. Hooker's life, I found some short 
notice of Mr. Travers, whom Mr. Hooker says he believes 
to be a good man. This excited my curiosity to know more 
about Mr. Travers, and the nature of the dispute between 
him and Mr. Hooker. I found in Neal, the account from 
which I have made the following extracts ; which may, per- 
haps, be interesting to several of your readers, as the history 
is rather a scarce book among those who have not descend- 
ed from Puritan families. 

The Rev. Mr. Walter Travers, B. D. some time Fel- 
low of Trinity College, Cambridge, already mentioned, came 
into trouble this year, 15S4. He had been ordained at Ant- 
werp, and being an admired preacher, and a fine gentleman, 
and of great learning, he became domestic chaplain to Sec- 
retary Cecil, and Lecturer of the Temple. Dr. Alvey the 
master, dying about this time, Travers was recommended 
by him and the benchers to succeed him. Archbishop 
Whitgift interposed — unless he should be re-ordained ac- 
cording to the usage of the church of England, &c. upon 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 219 

which Mr. Hooker was preferred. Mr. Travers had been 
ordained at Antwerp, according to the form used among the 
reformed on the continent, which he would not renounce. 
Mr. Travers had been lecturer at the Temple about two 
years with Mr. Hooker, but with very little harmony. The 
writer of Hooker's life reports, that the morning sermon 
spoke the language of Canterbury, the afternoon that of Ge- 
neva. Hooker complaining of this usage, the archbishop 
took the opportunity to suspend Mr. Travers at once, with 
out any ceremony ; for, as he was going up into the pulpit 
to preach on the Lord's day afternoon, the officer served him 
with a prohibition upon the pulpit stairs; upon which, in- 
stead of a sermon, he acquainted the congregation with his 
suspension, and dismissed them. The reasons given for it 
were, 1. That he was not ordained according to the forms 
of the church of England. 2. That he had broken the or* 
ders of the 7th of the Queen. That disputes should not be 
brought into the pulpit. Mr. Travers drew up his own 
vindication, &c. in which he complains of being judged and 
condemned before he was heard, &c. &>c. Mr. Hooker 
wrote an answer, which he concludes by saying that I ought 
to have complained to the House of Commons, and not 
have confuted him in the pulpit. The suspension was not 
taken off, and he accepted an invitation into Ireland, and 
he became Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, where he 
was tutor to the famous Dr. Usher. But being driven from 
thence by the wars, he returned into England, and spent 
the remainder of his days in silence, obscurity, and great 
poverty; he was a learned man, a polite preacher, an ad- 
mirable orator, and one of the worthiest divines of his age. 
But all these qualifications put together, could not atone 
for the single crime of non-conformity. 

But the most celebrated performance, was Mr. Hooker's 
Ecclesiastical Polity in viii. books; the four first of which 
was published this year ; the fifth in 1597, and the three last 
not till many years after his death, for which reason some 
have suspected them to be interpolated, though they were 
deposited in the hands of A. B. Abbot, from whose copy 
they were printed about the beginning of the civil wars. It 
is esteemed the most learned defence of the church of 
England, wherein all that would be acquainted with its con- 
stitution, may see upon what foundation it is built. Mr. 
Hooker began his work while master of the temple. He fin- 
ished his work and his life in 1600, and in the 47th year of 
his age, 



220 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

The chief principles upon which this learned author pro- 
ceeds are — ''That though the holy scriptures are a perfect 
standard of doctrine, they are not a rule of discipline or go- 
vernment: Nor is the practice of the apostles an invariable 
rule or law to the church in succeeding ages; because, they 
acted according to the circumstances of the church in its in- 
fant and persecuted state : Neither are the scriptures a rule 
of human action; so far as that, whatsoever we do in mat- 
ters of religion, without their express direction or warrant is 
sin ; but many things are left indifferent : The church is a 
society like others, invested with powers to make what laws 
she apprehends reasonable, decent, or necessary, for her 
well-being and government; provided, they do not interfere 
with, or contradict the laws and commandments of the holy 
scriptures : Where the scripture is silent, human authority 
may interpose ; we must then have recourse to the reason 
of things, and the rights of society : It follows from hence 
that the church is at liberty to appoint ceremonies, and es- 
tablish order within the limits above mentioned ; and her 
authority ought to determine what is fit and convenient: 
All who are born within the confines of an established church 
and are baptized into it, are bound to submit to its ecclesi- 
astical laws ; they may not disgrace, revile, or reject them 
at pleasure : The church is their mother, and has more than 
a maternal power over them : The positive laws of the church 
not being of a moral nature, are mutable, and may be chan- 
ged, or reversed by the same powers that made them ; but 
while they are in force they are to be submitted to, and such 
penalties as the church in her wisdom shall direct." 

The 4th and 5th propositions, are the main pillars of Mr. 
Hooker's fabric, and the foundation of human establish- 
ments, viz : That the church, like other societies, is invested 
with power to make laws for its well-being ; and that where the 
scripture is silent, human authority may interpose. All men 
allow, that human societies may form themselves after any 
model, and make what laws they please for their well being; 
and that the christian church has some things in common 
with all societies, as such ; as the appointing time and place, 
and the order of public worship, &c. but it must be remem- 
bered that the christian society is not a mere voluntary so- 
ciety, but a community formed and constituted by Christ, 
the sole judge and law-giver of it, who has made sufficient 
provision for its well-being to the end of the world. It does 
not appear in the new testament, that the church is em- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 221 

powered to amend or alter the constitution of Christ, by 
creating new offices or making new laws; though the chris- 
tian world has ventured upon it. Christ gave his church 
prophets, evangelists, pasters and teachers for the perfecting 
of the saints, and the edifying of his body; but the succes- 
sors of the apostles, in the government of the church, appre- 
hending these not sufficient, have added Patriarchs, Cardi- 
nals, Deans, Arch-Deacons, Canons, and other officials. The 
church is represented in scripture as a spiritual body ; her 
ordinances, privileges, and censures, being purely such ; 
but latter ages have wrought the civil powers into her con- 
stitution, and kept men within her pale by all the terrors of 
this world, as fines, imprisonments, banishments, fire and sword. 
It is the peculiar excellence of our gospel worship to be plain 
and simple, free from the yoke of Jewish ceremonies, but, 
(others) thinking this a defect, have loaded it with number- 
less ceremonies of their own invention ; and, though there 
are laws in the scripture sufficient for the direction of the 
church as instituted by Christ and his apostles, they have 
thought fit to add so many volumes of ecclesiastical laws, 
canons and injunctions, and to have confounded, if not sub- 
verted the laws of Christ. 

Whereas, if men considered the church as a spiritual 
body, constituted by Christ its sole law-giver for spiritual 
purposes,, they would then see that it had no concern with 
their civil rights, properties, and estates, nor any power to 
force men to be of its communion, by the pains and penal- 
ties of this world. The laws of the .New Testament would 
appear sufficient for the well being of such a society ; and 
in cases where there are no particular rules and injunctions, 
that it is the will of Christ, and his apostles, there should be 
liberty and mutual forbearance, there would then be no oc- 
casion for christian courts (as they are called) nor for the in- 
terposition of human authority any further than to keep the 
peace. Upon the whole, as far as any church is govern- 
ed by the laws and precepts of the New Testament, so far 
it is a church of Christ ; but when it sets up its own by-laws 
as terms of communion, or works the policy of the civil 
magistrate into its constitution, it is so far a creature of the 
state. 

Mr. Hooker's two last propositions are inconsistent with 

the first principles of the reformation, viz: that all who are 

born within the confines of an established church, and are 

baptised into it, are bound to submit to its ecclesiastical 

19* 



222 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

laws, under such penalties as the church in her wisdom 
shall direct. Must I then be of the religion of the country 
where I am born ? that is, at Rome, a Papist; in Saxony, 
a Lutheran ; in Scotland, a Presbyterian ; and in England, 
a Diocesan Prelatist ; and this under such penalties as the 
church shall think fit ? Must I believe as the church be- 
lieves, and submit to her laws, right or wrong ? Have I no 
right as a man and a christian, to judge and act for my- 
self, &c. ? 

From general principles, Mr. Hooker proceeds to vindi- 
cate the particular rites and ceremonies of the church, and 
clear them from all the exceptions of the Puritans, which 
may easily be done when he has proved that the church has 
a discretionary power to appoint what ceremonies and es- 
tablish what order she thinks fit; he may then not only 
vindicate the ceremonies of the church of England, but all 
those of the church of Rome, for no doubt that church al- 
leges all their ceremonies conducive to her well being, and 
not inconsistent with the laws of Christ." 

To these masterly views of Mr. Neal, on which our coun- 
trymen have acted, we may add a note of the editor of the 
work. To Mr. Neal's remarks (continues he) on the prin- 
ciples of "Ecclesiastical Polity," it may be added : that 
how just and conclusive soever these principles are in 
themselves, they do not and cannot apply to the vindica- 
tion of our (English) religious establishment, 'till it be 
proved that its ceremonies and laws were fixed by the 
church. In whatever sense the word church is used; this 
is not the fact. Whether you understand by it "a congre- 
gation of faithful men" or "all ecclesiastical persons," or 
any order of men who are set apart by Christianity, and de- 
dicated to this very purpose of public instruction ;" in nei- 
ther sense were the forms and opinions of our established 
religion settled by the church. They originated with royal 
pleasure; they have changed as the will of our princes 
have changed; they have been settled by acts of Parlia- 
ment, formed illegally, corrupted by pensions, and over- 
awed by prerogatives, and they constitute part of the sta- 
tute law of the land." See Neal's History, vol. 1, chap. 
v. vi. viii. 

I cannot forbear, before I conclude, to solicit the attention 
of our brethren to this subject ; on which, more than al- 
most any other, they are apt to be muddy-headed. If Mr. 
Hooker's views had been followed by our legislators, they 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. '223 

would have marred our religious liberties. Mr. Neil's re- 
marks, that "in cases where there are no particular rules 
and injunctions, it is the will of Christ and his apostles that 
there should be liberty and mutual forbearance," ought to 
be written on our hearts. His remarks are equally excel- 
lent against setting up our by-laws as terms of communion ; 
an error of which even Americans are not yet cured. 

Dokemasius. 



No. 43. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. October, 1823, No. vi. page 200. 

Burke on the Popery Laws. 

Mr. Stockton, 

I have sent you an extract from a tract of Mr. Edmund 
Burke, relative to the laws against Popery in Ireland. 
This extract, I own, is rather too long, but cannot well be 
more abridged. As I have appeared in my proper name 
upon the subject of church government, in the Repository, 
and it will be difficult to meet, and answer all objections, 
will it not be best at once to furnish an example of the 
masters by whom I have been taught ? 

N. Snethen. 

'•The system which we have just reviewed, and the man- 
ner in which religious influence on the public mind is made 
to operate upon the law.s, concerning popery in Ireland, 
is, in its nature, very singular, and differs, perhaps, essen- 
tially, and to its disadvantage, from any scheme of religious 
persecution now existing in any other country in Europe; 
or which has prevailed in any time or nation, with which 
history has made us acquainted. 

"The first and most capital consideration, with regard to 
this, as to every object, is the extent of it; and here it is 
necessary to premise, this system has for its object no small 
sect or party; but, a very numerous body of men — -a body 
which comprehends at least two-thirds of that whole na- 
tion ; it amounts to 2,800,000 souls ; a number for the ma- 
terials constituent of a great people. Now, it is well worthy 
of a serious and dispassionate examination, whether such a 
system, respecting such an object, be, in reality, agreeable 
to any sound principles of legislation, or any authoiised 



224 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

definition of law ; for, if our reasons and practices differ 
from the general informed sense of mankind, it is very mo- 
derate to say, that they are at least suspicious. 

"This consideration of the magnitude of the object, 
ought to attend us through the whole inquiry; if it does 
not always affect the reason, it is always decisive on the 
importance of the question. It not only makes in itself a 
leading point, but complicates itself through every other 
part of the matter, giving every error, minute in itself, a 
character and significance from its application; it is, there- 
fore, not to be wondered at, if we perpetually recur to it in 
the course of this essay. 

To guard against "substantial faults, which contradict the 
nature and end of law itself; faults not arising from the im- 
perfection, but from the misapplication and abuse of our 
reason. As no legislator can regard the minima of equity, 
a law may, in some instances, be a just subject of censure, 
without being at all an object of repeal. But if its trans- 
gressions against common right, and the end of just go- 
vernment, should be considerable in their nature, and 
spreading in their effects, as this objection goes to the root 
and principle of the law, it renders it void in its obligatory 
quality on the mind, and, therefore, determines it as the 
proper object of abrogation and repeal, so far as regards its 
civil existence. The objection here is by no means on ac- 
count of the imperfection of the law ; it is on account of 
its erroneous principle ; for, if this be fundamentally wrong, 
the more perfect the law is made, the worse it becomes. 
It cannot be said to have the properties of genuine law, 
even in its imperfections and defect. The true weakness 
and opprobrium of our best constitutions, is, that they can- 
not provide beneficially for every particular case, and thus 
fill, adequately to their intentions, the circle of universal 
justice. But where the principle is faulty, the erroneous 
part of the law is beneficial, and justice only finds refuge 
in those holes and corners which had escaped the sagacity 
and inquisition of the legislator. The happiness and mi- 
sery of multitudes can never be a thing indifferent. A law 
against the majority of the people, is, in substance, a law 
against the people itself: its extent determines its invali- 
dity ; it even changes its character as it enlarges its opera- 
tion ; it is not particular injustice, but general oppression ; 
and can no longer be considered as a private hardship, 









SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 225 

which might be borne ; but spreads and grows up into the 
unfortunate importance of a national calamity. 

"Now, as a law directed against the mass of the nation, 
has not the nature of a reasonable institution, so neither 
has it the authority ; for, in all forms of government, the 
people is the true legislator, &c. But though the means, 
and, indeed, the nature of a public advantage, may not al- 
ways be evident to the understanding of the subject, no one 
is so gross and stupid as not to distinguish between a benefit 
and an injury. No one can imagine, then, an exclusion of 
a great body of men, not from favGrs, privileges, and trusts, 
but from the common advantages of society, can ever be a 
thing intended for their good, or can ever be ratified by any 
implied consent of theirs. If, therefore, at least, an implied 
human consent is necessary to the existence of a law, such 
a constitution cannot, in propriety, be a law at all. 

"But, if we would suppose that such a ratification was 
made, not virtually, but actually, by the people ; not repre- 
sentatively, but even collectively, still it would be null and 
void. They have no right to make a law prejudicial to the 
whole community, even though the delinquents, in making 
such an act, should be themselves the chief sufferers by it; 
because it would be made against the principles of a supe- 
rior law, which it is not in the power of any community, or 
of the whole race of man to alter. I mean the will of Him 
who gave us our nature, and, in giving, impressed an inva- 
riable law upon it. It would be hard to point out any error 
more truly subversive of all the order and beauty, of 
all the peace and happiness of human society, than the po- 
sition, that any body of men have a right to make what 
laws they please, or that laws can derive any authority from 
their institution merely, and independent of the quality of 
the subject matter. No arguments of policy, reason of 
state, or preservation of the constitution, can be pleaded in 
favor of such a practice. They may indeed impeach the 
frame of that constitution ; bnt can never touch this im- 
moveable principle. This seems to be, indeed, the doctrine 
which Hobbs broached in the last century, and which was 
then so ably and so frequently refuted. Cicero exclaims, 
with the utmost indignation and contempt, against such a 
notion ; he considers it not only as unworthy of a philoso- 
pher, but of an illiterate peasant ; that of all things this 
was the most truly absurd, to fancy that the rule of justice 
was to be taken from the constitutions of commonwealths, 



226 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

or that laws derive their authority from the statutes of the 
people, the edicts of princes, or the devices of judges. 

"In reality there are two, and only two foundations of 
law ; and they are, both of them, conditions without which 
nothing can give it any force : I mean equity and utility. 
With regard to the former, it grows out of the great rule of 
equality, which is grounded upon our common nature, and 
which Philo, with propriety, calls the mother justice. All 
human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory ; they 
may alter the mode and application, but have no power 
over the substance of original justice. The other founda- 
tion of law, which is utility, must be understood not of par- 
tial or limited, but of general or of public utility, connected 
in the same manner with, and derived directly from our ra- 
tional nature ; for, any other utility maybe that of a robber ; 
but cannot be that of a citizen ; the interest of the domestic 
economy, and not that of a member of a commonwealth. 
This present equality can never be the foundation of sta- 
tutes, which create an artificial difference among men, as 
the laws before us do, in order to induce a consequential 
inequality in the distribution of justice. Law is made for 
human action, respecting society, and must be governed by 
the same rules of equity which govern every private action ; 
and so Tully considers it in his offices. 

"If any proposition can be clear of itself, it is this, that 
a law which shuts out from all secure and valuable pro- 
perty, the bulk of the people, cannot be made for the utility 
of the party so excluded. This, therefore, is not the utility 
which Tully mentions. But if it were true, (as it is not,) 
that the real interests of the community could be separated 
from the happiness of the rest, still it would afford no just 
foundation for a statute providing exclusively for that inter- 
est at the expense of the other ; because it would be re- 
pugnant to the essence of law, which requires that it be 
made, as much as possible, for the benefit of the whole. If 
this principle be denied, or evaded, what ground have we 
left to reason on ? We must, at once, make a total change 
in all our ideas, and look for new definitions of law. Where 
to find it, I confess myself at a loss. If we resort to the 
fountains of jurisprudence, they will not supply us with any 
thing that is for our purpose. (Mr. Burke then quotes 
Paulus and Saurez, who support him, &c.) Partiality and 
law are contradictory terms. Neither the merits, nor the 
ill deserts ; neither the wealth, nor the importance, nor the 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 227 

indignity, or obscurity of the one part or the other, can 
make any alteration in this fundamental truth. On the 
other hand, I defy any man living to settle a correct stand- 
ard, which may discriminate between equitable rule and the 
most direct tyranny. For, if we can once prevail upon 
ourselves, from the strictness and the integrity of this prin- 
ciple, in favor even of a considerable party, the argument 
will hold for one that is no less so ; and thus we shall go 
on, narrowing the bottom of public right, until, step by step, 
we arrive, though after no very long or very forced deduc- 
tion, at what one of our poets calls the erroneous faith — 
the faith of the many created for the advantage of a single 
person. I cannot see a glimmering of distinction to evade 
it ; nor is it possible to allege any reason for the proscrip- 
tion of so large a part of the kingdom, which would not hold 
equally to support, under parallel circumstances, the pro- 
scription of the whole. 

"I am sensible that these principles, in their abstract 
right, will not be very strenuously opposed. Reason is 
never inconvenient but when it comes to be applied. Mere 
general truths interfere very little with the passions. They 
can, until they are roused by a troublesome application, 
rest with great tranquility, side by side, with tempers and 
proceedings the most opposite to them. Men want to be 
reminded who do not want to be taught; because, those 
original ideas of rectitude, to which the mind is compelled 
to assent, when they are proposed, are not always as pre- 
sent as they ought to be. When people are gone, if not 
into a denial, at least into an oblivion of those ideas; when 
they know them as barren speculations, and not as practi- 
cal motives for conduct, it will be proper to press, as well 
as offer them to the understanding; and when one is at- 
tacked by prejudices which aim to intrude themselves into 
the place of law, what is left for us but to vouch and call to 
warrantry those principles of original justice from whence 
alone our title to every thing valuable in society is derived? 
Can it be thought to arise from a superfluous, vain parade 
of displaying general and uncontroverted maxims that we 
should revert, at this time, to the first principles of law, 
when we have directly under our consideration a whole 
body of statutes, which, I say, are so many contradictions, 
which their advocates allow to be so many exceptions to 
those very principles ? Take them in the most favorable 
light, every exception from an original and fixed rule of 



228 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

equality and justice ought, surely, to be very well authorised 
in the reason of their deviation, and very rare in their use; 
for, if they should grow to be frequent, in what would they 
differ from an abrogation of the rule itself? By becoming 
thus frequent, they might even go further, and, establishing 
themselves into a principle, convert the rule into the excep- 
tion. It cannot be dissembled that this is not at all remote 
from the case before us, where the great body of the people 
are excluded from all valuable property — where the greatest 
and most ordinary benefits of society are conferred as pri- 
vileges, and not enjoyed on the footing of common rights. 
It has been shown, I hope, with sufficient evidence, that a 
constitution against the interests of the many, is rather of 
the nature of a grievance than a law ; that, of all griev- 
ances, it is the most mighty and important ; that it is made 
without due authority, against all the acknowledged prin- 
ciples of jurisprudence ; against the opinions of the great 
lights of that science ; and that such is the tacit consent 
even of all who act in the most contrary manner. There 
is not such a convenient ductility in the human understand- 
ing, as to make us capable of being persuaded that men 
can possibly mean the ultimate good of the whole society, 
by rendering miserable the greater part of it ; or that any 
one has such a reversionary benevolence as seriously to in- 
tend the late good of a whole posterity, who can give up 
the present enjoyment which every honest man must have 
in the happiness of his contemporaries. Every body is sa- 
tisfied that a conservation and secure enjoyment of our na- 
tural rights, is the great and ultimate purpose of civil so- 
ciety ; and that, therefore, all forms, whatsoever, of govern- 
ment, are only good as they are subservient to that purpose 
to which they are entirely subordinate. Now, to aim at the 
establishment of any form of government, by sacrificing 
what is the substance of it ; to take away, or, at least, to 
suspend the rights of nature, in order to an approved sys- 
tem for the protection of them ; and for the sake of that 
about which men must dispute forever ; to postpone those 
things about which they have no controversy at all, and 
this not in minute, but in large and principal objects, is a 
procedure as preposterous and absurd in argument, as it is 
oppressive and cruel in its effects ; for the Protestant reli- 
gion, nor (I speak with reverence, I am sure) the truth of 
our common Christianity is not so clear as this proposition : 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 229 

that all men, at least the majority of men, in the society, 

ought to enjoy, the common advantage of it." 

Thus, Mr. Stockton, I have given your readers a speci- 
men of the heifers with which I plough. By masters, like 
this one, ancient and modem, have I been taught to exalt 
the principles of equity and utility infinitely above the 
factitious rules by which men continue to render the many 
subservient to the few. The same arguments by which Mr. 
Burke's essay on popery laws can be refuted, will convince 
me that all the rule-making power among us ought to be in 
the hands of travelling preachers : for we have only to 
change the property and liberty of the Papists of Ireland, 
for the right of suffrage in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and all the irresistible logic of this mighty master applies in 
its fullest force ; here, not the majority, but the whole are 
deprived of their rights. The rule of right is converted 
into an exception. 

The wide difference between the views of certain travel- 
ling preachers and myself, respecting the rights of church 
members, gives me most sensible concern. Might I not, 
with some show of reason, make one request of them ? As 
I know all their masters and teachers, and they have not 
read mine, and it is probable that their minds are as sus- 
ceptible of the same kind of light as mine, I only ask them 
to read for themselves. If any man among us, not yet con- 
vinced that the church has legislative rights, will read 
Burke on the Popery Laws of Ireland, and tell me his opi- 
nion remains unaltered, then shall I begin to distrust the 
truth of my own convictions, or the correctness of my con- 
clusions. But I shall not believe, until I see it, that even 
this short and imperfect extract can be read and understood 
without shaking confidence in legislative monopolies,, in 
church as well as in state. My six letters are so arranged 
as to oblige those who oppose the principle on which they 
are predicated, either to acknowledge their mistake, or to 
maintain, in the face of the world, that, if every member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church were opposed to the pre- 
sent power of the travelling preachers, they (the travelling 
preachers) have a right to maintain it. Has an apprehen- 
sion of this conclusion had any influence over those breth- 
ren who advise the discontented to withdraw ? 

Letters on Church Government, inscribed to the Reverend William 
McKendree, by Martin Luther — Rev. Alexander McCaine, begin here. 

20 



230 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 44. 

Weslejan Repository, vol. iii. November, 1823, No. viii. page 296. 

" The Church is in danger ! " 

Very highly important. — We have received a letter 
from a source of intelligence almost equal to official, which, 
though it is not confidential, yet we are not authorised to 
publish it; but some items of information are of such vast 
importance that we lose no time in laying them in substance 
before our readers for the benefit of all concerned. A sto- 
ry, the writer says, has been some how gotten up, that those 
preachers who are in favor of the "conciliation plan," or the 
suspended resolutions of the General Conference of 1820, 
are friendly to the plan of reform contained in, or advo- 
cated by the Wesleyan Repository. And this the writer 
thinks, though he believes it to be false, is the greatest hin- 
drance and is likely to prove a final one in the way of the 
harmony and peace of the travelling preachers who are di- 
vided in opinion about the election of presiding elders. 
Our correspondent sincerely believes, and he has extensive 
means of information, that nine-tenths of the preachers and 
people are opposed to the plan of reformation contained in 
the Repository; and yet, if the church is blown up, scat- 
tered and dispersed, as it respects its union, peace, and 
usefulness; it must be charged upon that mischievous pub- 
lication, the Repository, and the aforesaid opinion of those 
who consider the election of presiding elders unconstitu- 
tional in regard to those of the opposite way of thinking. 

We have carefully and repeatedly read over the Wesley- 
an Repository, and we know of no other plan of reform in 
the Repository, but to give the whole of the ministry and 
the church a representation in the General Conference, or 
a voice in our ecclesiastical legislature. We do not believe 
that any writer for the Repository or any of its friends, in- 
tend to dictate to the representatives of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church what they shall do, or leave undone ; they 
only contend that the church and the local preachers have a 
right to be represented as well as the members of the annual 
conferences. Now if the information of our letter writer is to 
be relied upon, one of two things must follow ; either those 
preachers do not know what the contents of the Wesleyan 
Repository are, or they will have no fellowship with those 
of their travelling brethren who are friendly to church rep- 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 231 

reservation. But the story, which is gotten up, pretty plain- 
ly indicates that those who propagate it and believe it, are 
ignorant of the contents of the Repository; and that our 
correspondent has taken more of his information through 
his ears than his eyes. It is only necessary for us to refer 
to the article contained in the second volume, entitled 
" Warring in a triangle" to show how free we are of any 
participation in this dangerous crisis to the final peace and 
harmony of travelling preachers. We there express our be- 
lief that the two parties were so wide that they would not 
unite even to crush us, though we did not suppose that 
either of them had any very good liking for us. 

It is true that the Repository has always advocated the 
cause of the election of the presiding elders; but, it by no 
means follows that this regard to the liberty of others has 
been reciprocated, or that we really expected it. On the 
contrary we have deplored the fact, that not a few were 
only mindful of their own rights. Did the men who got up 
this story know that the principal writer who has entered 
the list against the Repository was one of the champions 
who contended in General Conference for the election of 
presiding elders ? Did they know that this mischievous 
publication contained a series of letters from Nicholas Sne- 
then, advising the friends of representation, &c. not to send 
agents to the General Conference of 1824, in order that 
they might remain unbiassed, &lc. The presumption still is, 
we think, that the fears of our writer will be realized so far 
that the opposers of the conciliation or suspended resolu- 
tions will not unite \ n £h its friends ; but the cause will not 
be m the Vvesleyan Repository; but ignorance of its con- 
tents. We have been grieved exceedingly to be obliged 
again and again to correct the misapprehensions even of 
those who have professed to read this mischievous publica- 
tion, as it is called. 

We now take it upon ourselves in the name of the edi- 
tor and all the writers and friends of the Repository to ad- 
dress travelling preachers upon the momentous subject of 
their own union. 

Dear brethren, you disputed, you divided among your- 
selves without our instigation or privity. We came forward 
to advocate and defend our own rights and privileges ac- 
cording to the maxim, he who wont help himself shall have 
help from nobody. It came in our way, it fell in with our 
views, to take part in favor of the election of presiding el- 



232 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

ders ; but we made no bargain — we asked no favors for so 
doing; and some who supported this question volunteered 
their service and employed their tongues and pens to put 
the Wesleyan Repository down, or to destroy it in its in- 
fancy. As we courted neither party, so have we not inden- 
tified ourselves with either party : we have spoken of you 
both on all occasions as an independent or a third party 
would speak We have seen no reason, nor do we now 
see any, why a preacher may not oppose the suspended res- 
olutions and yet be in favor of the suffrage of the church. 
The presiding elders are executive officers and the represen- 
tatives might perhaps see cause to leave their appointment 
in the present hands, or modify it, or place it under some 
arrangement entirely new, or abolish the office. 

Now, brethren, unite and agree among yourselves if you 
can ; but in the name of mercy and truth spare us the blame 
of the beginning or the continuance of your divisions. We 
are innocent of this thing. We sowed not those seeds of 
discord among you. We have separated no chief friends. 
If you who are opposed to the conciliation will acknow- 
ledge no travelling preacher as a brother who espouses the 
cause of church representation, and if there be any who are 
disposed to make their peace with you by sacrificing the 
cause of the church, we say let him do so ; and we believe 
that all the friends of the Repository, if it were put to vote 
would empower its editor to give him a certificate certify- 
ing his discharge in full of all obligations to us. 0, if there 
be an American, native or naturaiized,<who can impose such 
monstrous conditions or comply wj»s them, we will wa?h 
our hands in innocency. 

True Principles. 

N. B. The dano-er is, that nine-tenths of the members 
of the church and the preachers shall be blown up, scatter- 
ed and dispersed by the other tenth ; and, that this blow-up, 
&,c, is to be effected by a mischievous book which main- 
tains that the best plan of reform is to make no laws or rules 
without the consent of the majority of the whole of the- 
ministry and membership of the church. T. P. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 233 

IVo. 45. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. November, 1823, No. viii. page 3i5. 

Letters to a Member of the General Conference. 
LETTER I. 

Dear Brother, 

All the divisions, in opinion, or in fact, among us, of a 
serious nature, have been as you know, some way connect- 
ed with the measures or movements of our bishops. Thus 
the projected council of Mr. A. was not one of the least 
causes of the division in Virginia, and which proved so dis- 
astrous to our interests in that favored region. And at this 
moment all the travelling preachers and no inconsiderable 
number of local preachers and members are divided into 
two great parties, under their episcopal leaders, and might 
not inaptly be called McKendreeans and Georgians ; but, 
in all these instances, the church has been only the tail. 
These are most important items in our history. The itine- 
rant superintendancy, the soul and life, as it is supposed to 
be, of our cause ; that intended centre and bound of our 
union, has become the source and fountain head of our 
dangers. I do not say that these results were intentional. 
Certainly they were not. But how stand the facts; the 
council project shook public confidence; and loss of con- 
fidence is the avenue to supicion and division. Mr. George, 
no doubt, rejoiced exceedingly at the effects of this medita- 
tion, as well he might. It was indeed a moment of infinite 
interest ; but this transient feeling of delight served only to 
make the heart more exquisitely sensible and susceptible of 
the shock which was soon to follow. Mr. McKendree's 
measures convulsed the whole conference; wrought up 
party feeling almost to frenzy, and, as a correspondent ex- 
presses the present state of the connexion, "agitated all the 
widely extended circles of Methodism." From the sus- 
pension of the conciliatory resolutions, I date the com- 
mencement of the downfall of our bishops' power. 

In several particulars it has been asserted by competent 
judges, that our system is nearly allied to, if not identical 
with, Popery. Amongst these, the following deserve a par- 
ticular notice: — -1st. The popish clergy make laws for the 
laity without their consent. — So do the travelling preachers 
for the Methodist Episcopal Church. 2. The pastoral func- 
tions are all derived from the bishops, without whose au- 
20* 



234 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

thority or consent no flock can have a pastor. — So our tra- 
velling preachers and congregations depend upon our bish- 
ops, who have the sole power of all appointments. 3dly, 
The right of presentation to livings, which is sometimes in 
the bishops, or the governments, or the lay patrons, is whol- 
ly in our bishops. 4th. The generals or heads of the or- 
ders of friars or travelling monks, can send them where they 
please — so our bishops can send travelling preachers. Here 
let me observe once for all, that if it offend you to call 
these powers papal, you may name them yourself. I only 
assert that they existed in the Catholic church before the 
reformation, and exist there still; and that in every place 
where they have been in operation, and the spirit of reli- 
gious liberty has put forth its energies, they have been op- 
posed. This is the point in church history, to which I am 
anxious to call your attention. What has liberty done or 
always aimed to do with these high powers? Curb and con- 
trol them. The spirit of liberty has ever been found to be 
inimical to such powers and prerogatives as are exercised by 
our General Conference and bishops. Shall I be told that 
in this free country these powers have existed among free 
men for forty years? Were, then, those points of resem- 
blance, though so plain, unperceived til this while ? 

Have travelling preachers any other alternative but to 
stand impeached of ignorance or of design ? Humbling, as 
an acknowledgment of the former may be, will it not be 
preferred to a confession of knowingly and wilfully restor- 
ing powers which have ever been held obnoxious by the 
friends of liberty, and to suppress which, innumerable lives 
have been sacrificed ? But the plea of ignorance, though 
it may extenuate the guilt of the^past, cannot apologise for 
the future. Names alter not the nature of things. The 
shifting of a mass of matter into different hands, has no ef- 
fect upon its gravity. The principles of power are not to 
be estimated by the professions of the men who hold them, 
but by their own intrinsic nature and tendency. 

All the reformers and dissenters opposed the powers 
which are now in the hands of travelling preachers and 
bishops. And the measures pursued at the last General 
Conference have opened the eyes of many, and will open 
the eyes of many more, who never before thought sufficient- 
ly to examine for themselves. 

It will become more and more evident to every reflecting 
mind, that we must change our ground, or renounce all 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 235 

affinity and relation, not only to the friends and patrons of 
religious liberty, but, in fact, to the reformers and the refor- 
mation. Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Friends 
and Protestant Episcopalians, will all disown us, and leave 
us among the Lauds and Parkers — the Bonners and the 
Gardiners — the Becketts and great Gregories — and all the 
great champions for supremacy and high church politics. 
It could easily be proved that the obnoxious principles of 
power exist among us, in many instances, in a more un- 
qualified manner and degree, than in several of the religious 
establishments. In England, no ecclesiastical law can be 
enacted or repealed without the consent of parliament, a 
part of whom are representatives of the people. And in 
France, though Catholic, the maxim is, the clergy kiss the 
pope's toe, but bind his hands. The power of travelling 
preachers are as plenary as it is possible for them be. They 
can, not only legislate for the church without its consent, but 
according to their own definition, make, and unmake con- 
stitutions. Are not these amazing prerogatives to be lodg- 
ed in a body of preachers? All with whom I have convers- 
ed, who were favorable to the conciliation, consider it as 
little more than nominal. Why then has it produced so 
much agitation and alarm ? In the same way that the 
scratch of a pin often ends in a dangerous sore, by giving 
vent to the bad humors and habits of the body. A vast 
amount of suffering and discontent are annually generated 
under the present regime. Men's minds have become ex- 
tremely irritable under this morbid excitement of power. 
The body social is like the body physical, when the mass of 
fluids tend to mortification, the least cause may produce a 
crisis. 

The two old friends, whose souls were once like the souls 
of David and Jonathan, may again be reconciled. The 
pledges of affection may again be interchanged among tra- 
velling preachers; and all may seem to unite; but, in one 
year after the General Conference, new causes of discon- 
tent may be again generated. The kingdom is divided 
against itself. Changes must ensue ; or confidence will be 
irretrievably lost. One would think that the fate of the 
peace loving and cautious author of the conciliation, ought 
to admonish all to beware of half-measures and meditaions. 
The system is sinking under the weight of its own powers. 
All its disorders proceed from indirect debility. Its papal 
functions and attributes incumber it more than Saul's ar- 
mour did David. 



236 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Before I conclude this letter, let me remark that the 
M'Kendreeans, have no cause of additional disaffection to- 
wards the Georgians on account of the opinions or actions of 
the third party, which, since the divisions of the travelling 
preachers, have risen in the church in behalf of its own 
right of suffrage. The only point in which they happen to 
agree, is matter of accident. The Georgians reciprocate 
no favors with them, nor have they asked any favors. This 
third party have neither leaders nor toad eaters among them. 
Conscious of their own rights, they desire not to trick or 
use artifice, neither do they stoop to fawn nor to flatter men 
in power. 



No. 46. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. March, 1824> No. xi. page 422. 

A lime for all things. 

The importance of times and seasons, is seldom if ever 
overlooked among practical men in the ordinary concerns of 
life ; but in matters of government and religion, they are 
unaccountably neglected. There is reason to fear, that not 
a few of our brethren will suffer the time for reform to go by ; 
and, when it is too late, be the first to complain. Instances 
of this kind we have oftened witnessed. A recent one may 
be mentioned without, as we hope, giving offence, though 
most of the parties be living. 

During the stir about the presiding elder question, in the 
General Conference of 1820, a distinguished member was 
heard to say, your great men, meaning the influential mem- 
bers of the society in Baltimore, are working against us, viz. 
the freinds of the presiding elder's election. We have 
cause to believe, that it was indeed in a great measure 
owing to the influence of those great men, that that event- 
ful case took its present attitude. The favor of the Balti- 
more society was calculated upon from the then appearan- 
ces. But if our information is to be depended upon, not 
more than three years afterwards, the senior bishop was ad- 
dressed by certain official members of the society in Balti- 
more, to have that station exempted from the jurisdiction of 
the presiding elder of the district. A movement which 
seems to us as unseasonable, and as much out of time, as 
sowing in harvest or reaping in seeding time. 

We have long been in the habit of listening to chimney 
corner complaints, and to other complaints of a little louder 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 237 

description. And we had often noticed the indications of 
irritation in the tone of reply, when complaints used to 
reach the ears of the bishop, of the want of talents in one or 
more of the appointments of the preceding year. Give us 
better preachers, was the reply and we will station them. 
Could any reply be more untimely in the mouth of a Me- 
thodist bishop, unless he could appeal to all who heard him, 
to bear witness, that he had done what he could, in the pro- 
per time and place to increase and preserve the talents of 
preachers. the virtues! the blessings of impartiality ! 
They have indeed been loudly sung. No respect of per- 
sons in stationing preachers, is greatly to be commended ; 
but if no talents, and no age, are made equal with talents 
and age, is not the charge of partiality to be transferred from 
the bishop to nature and art. If these happen to disagree 
in their dispensations, which is to yield ? The tendency of 
nature and art is. to make men differ. The impartial bishop 
treats all travelling preachers alike. We have supposed, 
that when complaints of the want of talents in certain 
preachers for certain stations, come from the people, the 
proper time comes for the bishop to address the members of 
the annual conferences, making this his text: 

" Y~ou see, you hear," might he not say, "the inefficacy of 
my impartiality. It must be now evident to you all, that I 
can not by my stationing-power, prepare men for places, 
nor places for men ; nor is my authorit, to say to one go, 
and to another come, sufficient to silence the murmurs "*id 
complaints of the people. What then zr.n I do ?- "Wist "will 
ye have me to do ?" 

Does not necessity point out the course — to encourage 
talents and age by rewarding them ? When genius merits 
nothing, when mental industry merits nothing, and when 
age merits nothing, impartiality would require that the names 
of men should be shaken together in an urn and drawn by 
lot. We talk as much about gifts as other people ; but 
never in the right time. Times and seasons are the de- 
crees of God, In vain may impotent mortals strive to con- 
trol or reverse them. The union of the members of the 
church in favor of their rights, makes the time to gain them. 
Divide and and destroy, is a maxim peculiarly applicable to 
church liberty. The division of those who have the rio-ht 
to claim it, is its certain ruin. It will be the watchword 
and the rallying point in the next General Conference. Let 
but the opportunity invite its members to call the friends of 



238 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

church suffrage, a faction, and one part of the church will 
be played off against the other. These generous legislators 
will reward the neutrals and the passives with a protracted, 
if not additional yoke. The Repository will be put down, 
and no complaint will be heard in all our borders; but, will 
there be no murmuring, no whispering? Rather will not 
the very men who have flung from them the golden oppor- 
tunity, be the first to murmur ? will not every corner be fill- 
ed with whispers of disaffection ? In truth it will be so. 
And not a few of these will take French leave. 

To the members of the General Conference, we would 
humbly and earnestly recommend it, to be more attentive to 
the signs of the times than to the gaining of victory. You 
may, indeed, in all the plenitude of your power, put down 
the reformers; but, can you pluck up their claims by the 
roots ? can you annihilate their principles ? can you eradi- 
cate from the human breast all yearning after church free- 
dom among a race of men who live in the very elements of 
civil liberty ? Look well to the matter ; the year 1824 may be 
your time — once past, and you can have no earthly security 
that you will ever have it in your power to meet again as 
the dispensers of religious liberty. Independence is not 
yet declared ; but if it be ever declared, it will never be re- 
voked. As writers for a periodical paper, we have little 
prospect of acting a conspicuous part in a church revolu- 
tion. Such occasions make their actors and agents. The 
men of the pen seldom figure in the field. In a crisis you 
ma , y r TC!Lir l ]b'? r ° ,J1 advice, and may invite our mediation; 
but, it will be too late. All that we could do, would only in- 
volve us in the same loss of confidence with yourselves. Our 
labors are now entirely at your service ; and, if we have 
said any thing wrong, or in a wrong spirit, you can neutral- 
ize it by giving up the rights of others. 

The time is come to produce changes in men and man- 
ners. Genius with us, as a people, must expand; and, 
with it, the love of liberty. A few of the old men of ta- 
lents may continue tenacious of former modes and habits, 
but the influence of liberal sentiments, even if resisted by 
them, will imperceptibly leaven the young men. The wri- 
ters of the Repository have gained this point. All parties 
among us will find themselves impelled to enlarge the sphere 
of their mental action ; they must think more, if they do 
not think better. Even the men who will not read, must hear. 
The matter will sound out. There is a time for all things. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 239 

The full time was come to write a periodical work, and we 
have improved it. 

Philo Chronus. 



?io. 47. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. March, 1834, No. xi. page 425. 

The Feudal System. 

The Longobards, or Lombards, are generally believed to 
have laid the foundation, or at least to have made the ear- 
liest improvements of the modern feudal system. That 
tribe having early left their seats in the northern part of 
Germany, after many migrations, seized upon Upper Italy, 
and established the kingdom of Lombardy, about the year 
568. In order to enable them to secure their conquests, 
they found it expedient to divide the conquered country 
among their chief captains, reserving the superiority to 
their king : and these captains, after retaining what they 
deemed sufficient for themselves, parcelled out the remain- 
der among the lower ranks of officers, under the condition 
of fidelity and military service. The policy of this system 
was so universally approved in that military age, that even 
after the overthrow of the monarchy of the Lombards in 
Italy, it was adopted by Charlemagne, and eventually by 
most of the princes in Europe. It was introduced into 
England by William the Conqueror, who, with a view of 
keeping his English subjects under complete subjection, 
divided all the lands in England, with a very few excep- 
tions, into baronies, which he distributed, according to the 
feudal plan, among the most considerable of his Norman 
adventurers. Feudal grants were originally precarious, being 
revocable at the pleasure of the grantor; but afterwards 
they were gradually conferred for life, and finally the title 
descended to the heirs in succession. 

Although, from the nature of the feudal institution, fiefs 
were originally granted solely in consideration of military 
services, yet services of a mere civil or religious nature 
were early substituted in their room, at the pleasure of the 
superior. And in the course of time, the spirit of the ori- 
ginal institution was so far left out of view, that services of 
all kinds were dipensed with in some feudal tenures ; but, 
in such cases the vassal who is exempted from the services, 



240 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

must be liable to the payment of a certain sum of money, 
or something else, as an acknowledgment of the superior's 
right. 

It is well known that few, if any of the civil establish- 
ments and usages of modern Europe, can be traced beyond 
the feudal system. The present lords of manors in Eng- 
land are the inheritors of William the Conqueror's military 
companions and favorites, and the present landed tenantry, 
are in the place of the old villains. For though, as we 
have seen, scarcely a vestige of the ancient military estab- 
lishment remains, yet, the titles of the baronies are unim- 
paired. The noble lords learn war no more, and armies 
are now raised by voluntary enlistment. The vassal no 
longer renders homage to his liege lord, the title and in- 
heritance descend according to primogeniture. 

Such changes has time wrought. So have military mas- 
ters been converted into civil ones, and ancient castles have 
been exchanged for splendid palaces. The toils of the te- 
nant fill the coffers of the proprietor in consequence of 
having converted the sword into a ploughshare. The glo- 
rious dominion of mother church in Europe, cannot be 
traced farther back than the overthrow of the Lombards, 
whose kings contended with the popes for the sovereignty 
of Rome itself. Was the holy see in any wise influenced 
or affected with the feudal principles, which prevailed 
throughout Europe ? Were the missionaries of those 
times animated with the adventurous and conquering spirit 
of military conquerors, and stimulated with a hope of cor- 
respondent rewards— to a title to the lands of the proselyted 
countries ? In the latter part of the sixth century, Augus- 
tine, the missionary of Gregory the great, and his fellow 
monks, commenced their ministry among the Alglo-Saxons, 
at Canterbury. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, who 
died in 690, lived to see all the churches in England united 
in discipline and worship. Before the year 700, a regular 
provision was made for the clergy throughout all the king' 
doms of the Heptarchy, by the imposition of a tax, from 
which the meanest were not exempted. At the death of 
Edward the Confessor, one-third of all the lands in Eng- 
land were in the hands of the clergy. For the most part, 
monks are exempted from all taxes, as well as military duty. 
If there be any truth in these historical notices, we need 
not surely be at the pains to try to trace, or to prove the 
title of his grace the most reverend, the lord primate of all 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 211 

England, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, to Peter 
or to Paul. The affinity of the hierarchal polity to the 
feudal spirit of those ancient times, is as strongly marked 
as it well can be, considering the necessary distinction be- 
tween a civil and religious polity. The offices and the du- 
ties of the present incumbent of the see of Canterbury, are 
as dissimilar to those of its first Archbishop, as those of a 
modern English nobleman are from those of the Barons of 
William the Conqueror; but still the titles and the revenues 
are not put in jeopardy ; all is safe and secure to the spi- 
ritual, as well as the temporal lord. 

Every thing in Europe, in church and state, bears the 
marks of the ancient feudal customs. The features of con- 
quest and dominion cannot be concealed. But in all this, 
there is nothing which ought to shock either common sense 
or philosophy. The original was all of a piece. The views 
of men were barbarous, the times were barbarous. Dark- 
ness covered the nations, and gross darkness the people. 
Amidst the ruin of empires, and the crush of nations, the 
fiercest passions of the human heart may be expected to 
predominate ; and we know that they did then predomi- 
nate. All the foundations of government and religion were 
out of course. Men knew not how to govern, or to be go- 
verned — to teach, or to be taught. Where ignorance pre- 
vails, we look in vain for the results of wisdom. The na- 
tions and churches of Europe have indeed wonderfully im- 
proved in knowledge and virtue ; but they have not united 
inclination and skill, sufficient to untangle the feudal policy 
of their ancestors. They want, and will probably long 
want, the one thing needful to the peaceful triumphs of 
liberty, an Agrarian law. The people have not where to 
stand. 

O America ! my country ! thou art free, the title to thy 
soil is in the hands of thy children, and not in oligarchies 
of priests and nobles. 

Our national existence was begun right. We have no 
titles to trace to a conqueror. Our lands and our citizens 
have never been parcelled out to civil or religious adven- 
turers. Yet, strange as it may appear, a feudal claim to 
the government of the Methodist church has been set up 
by the oracle of the second bishop and his friends, in his 
book entitled, "A vindication of Methodist Episcopacy." 
Charity would lead us to hope, that he did it in ignorance, 
and not in impudence. 
21 



242 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

The boys had long been swelling with their triumphs, 
going forth from conquering to conquer, they claimed the 
people for their own. Brother Bangs could keep in no 
longer, and lo ! the feudal system stood confessed. For- 
tunately, philosophy, teaching by example, that is, history, 
had taught us, that nothing in this system would be perma- 
nent, but the title. We have not been wanting in our duty 
through fear or shame. We have faithfully warned our 
brethren and fellow-citizens to beware of this claim to the 
right of conquest, this feudal notion of converting to go- 
vern. As the good of the souls of the author's friends are 
at stake, we hope they will discover the doctrine, as fit only 
for the dark ages — the Long-beards — and the monks of 
feudal times, and such sort of folks. 

Philo Historicus. 



No. 48. 

Wesleyan Repository, vol. iii. April, 1824, No. xii. page 46S. 

The Farewell Address of Philo Pisticus, to the readers of 
the 3d vol. of the Wesleyan Repository. 

Three years of mental intercourse can hardly fail to be- 
get ideal associations, if not attachments. The benefits, 
whether real or imaginary, that I have derived from the 
composition of these essays, depended upon your ideal 
friendship. If you had not read, I could not have written. 
That the part I have taken in this periodical publication, 
has tended to improve me in knowledge and virtue, I have 
all the evidence which consciousness can afford me. Am I 
not authorised from this data to infer that you have not read 
to your disadvantage ? 

In the belief of the rights of the church to legislate her 
own by-laws or form of discipline, I am fully confirmed ; 
nor am I less firmly persuaded, that the germ or principle 
of all the tyranny which has been, or can be exercised over 
the church, may result from a re-union of the legislative and 
executive powers in the same men, independently on her 
consent and control. This re-union of powers was at first 
concealed from me, and perhaps from some others, under 
circumstances somewhat specious. The idea was held out, 
that we were in the full tide of successful experiment ; 
profiting by our past experience; and standing upon the 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 243 

shoulders of our former selves. As a new and spreading 
people, I own, I was flattered with this notion of going on 
to future perfection, taking it for granted, that the end must 
be good, without perceiving precisely what it might be. 

It is more than probable that if the General Conference 
had agreed in their high prerogative matters, that I should 
not have broken silence. When, however, I saw the tra- 
velling preachers themselves divided and embodied under 
their two great leaders, and their lieutenants, it seemed to 
me that the time was come to form a third party, of the peo- 
ple, to hold in check, if possible, these belligerent princi- 
palities and powers. Upon this course I resolved, under 
an anticipation of all risks and dangers. Both the bishops 
were dear to me as personal friends ; and towards both their 
seconds, 1 had ever cherished a full measure of brotherly 
affection. The apprehended loss of the confidence of such 
men, is always painful ; but, I foresaw that their confidence 
could not be lost alone ; that their displeasure must draw 
after it, as in a train, the displeasure of many ; and, that 
they had power to create love or hatred. 

For your sakes, and not with a hope of conciliating their 
favor, have I commended my love towards them. As I 
never felt anger, or ill will, 1 wished you to know it ; and I 
wish you now to know that I close these essays with the 
same complacent feelings with which I began them. The 
magnitude of the subject is too great to place any reliance 
upon flattery or persuasion. And victory, at the price of 
passion and strife, would be dearly purchased. The wrath 
of men worketh not the righteousness of God. With 
truth, and right, and reason, all in my favor, it would have 
been unpardonable to have had recourse to personal crimi- 
nation, even if the opportunity had offered itself. Incre- 
dible as it may seem, I still love those who, I have reason 
to believe, are resolved to withhold from me my rights ; but 
I hesitate not to aver, that this love and this privation can- 
not exist together forever. There must be a time, when 
the one, or the other must cease. Love is an affection, not 
always under the control of volition. 

The cause of church suffrage has not been confounded 
with the presiding elder question. I always considered it 
both lawful and expedient for the travelling preachers to 
have a voice in the choice of the presiding elders; and, 
therefore, always advocated the measure. For that impor- 
tant office, a preacher ought not to be eligible, without 



244 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

extra qualifications, which should be tested by a suitable 
examination, before he is put in nomination. But all I 
have said in favor of the election of presiding elders, has 
procured no favor for the rights of the church ; and though 
I was the first mover of the nomination being in the bishops, 
the measure gained no mutual concession. The evidence 
is abundantly sufficient to convince every one, that this 
great controversy can only be successfully managed upon 
its own merits, before the tribunal of the public ; and I have 
accordingly endeavored so to manage it, that it might be 
viewed on all sides through a public medium. 

But is not the public discussion of this interesting sub- 
ject calculated to beget a spirit of scepticism ? I am aware 
of it, and have been so from the beginning. This is an 
additional proof of the evil of monopolising power. Its 
tendency is to generate unbounded confidence. Preachers 
who hold and exercise the more than human powers of le- 
gislating for others, without their consent, if they are not 
resisted, must be looked up to as more than men. Their 
power is dreadful ; for it is the power of church — life and 
death. To shake, to unsettle the public faith in such pre- 
rogatives, and to say to doubts, hitherto shall ye come, and 
no further, require means quite distinct. Nothing is more 
difficult than to fix the limits of declining confidence. "I 
said in my haste all men are liars." Knowing how liable 
men are to transfer their doubts from men to God, I have 
devoted so large a portion of my essays to faith. To this 
subject my mind happened to be peculiarly disposed by 
previous habits of thinking, and a train of circumstances. 
Having theorised much, and speculated freely, I tried my 
theory upon myself, in and out of the pulpit, and in the 
order of Providence, two or three years before I became a 
correspondent for the Repository, had an opportunity to try 
it in affliction. Disqualified from active labor, by an ob- 
structed and painful respiration, without hopes of recovery, 
and without any prospect of ever being able to turn the 
exercises of the mind to any profitable account, faith to me 
was the one thing needful ; the only solace of life, and the 
antidote to the fear of death. Conceiving it to be my duty, 
my friendly readers, to warn you to put no trust in man ; 
no, not in princes; and to admonish you to consider that 
every man in his best estate, is altogether vanity, and that 
of course your church rights could not be long safe in 
human keeping; could I do better, than to lay open to 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 245 

you the rich treasures of gospel grace and mercy, and to 
show you how sufficient and abundant the grounds are for 
faith, in the divine veracity of the promiser of all spiritual 
good, together with the modes of that faith. It is possible, 
indeed, that some peculiarities in my manner of treating 
this most interesting point in religion, may be misunder- 
stood, and others successfully criticised ; but, I trust 
enough will remain, at once intelligible and unexceptiona- 
ble for the purposes of practice and peculiar exigencies. 

Need I add, that the only personal interest I have had to 
induce me to appear in print, is common to the rest of my 
brethren. I can hope to regain no rights for myself alone. 
What may be the result of these labors, time alone must 
determine. Contrary to all human probability, 1 have been 
able to follow on to the end of the third volume, and am in 
better health than when I began. 

The period has now come, to bring these essays to a 
close. 

Philo Pisticus. 



The General Conference met in Baltimore May 1st, 1824, and in 
consequence of the election of Delegates in the Baltimore Annu-al 
Conference turning against the friends of the suspended resolution, 
the other side had the majority. Some days were spent receiving, 
reading, and referring petitions in favor of lay representation. The 
report of the committee disclaimed the right of the principle, and the 
report passed the General Conference, with the ever memorable words 
"we know of no such rights 1 ' (as lay representation.) 

In August, 1824, the first number of vol. i. was published of the 
Mutual Rights of the ministers and members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, edited by a committee of ministers and laymen. Dr. 



No. 49. 

Mutual Rights, vol. i. February, 1S25, page 261. 

An Essay on Church Property, by the Rev. Nicholas Snethen. 
In four parts. 

PART I. 

In the discussions between the friends and enemies of 
mutual rights, it is curious to observe how predictions are 
opposed to statements of facts and arguments. Do we af- 
firm that certain things in our church government are wrong 
21* 6 



246 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

in principle or tendency ; we are told, that our plan will 
lead to greater evils. In this way an attempt is made to in- 
duce a belief, that the present system is the best that can 
be adopted ; and, that in the event of a change in the gov- 
ernment, it will only be for the worse. With many this 
passes for argument, and indeed it has more weight with 
some people than argument itself. But these foretellings 
and forewarnings are not dictated by the spirit of inspira- 
tion ; they are predicated upon an assumed knowledge of 
men and things, and are mere random assertions. Thus 
far the friends of mutual rights have compromitted no repub- 
lican nor scriptural principle, and have made no monopoly 
of property. The right of the book itself is in the public, 
no individval being permitted to hold the title, and there is 
no positive or circumstantial evidence to induce a belief 
or justify a prediction that it will be otherwise. The edito- 
rial committee hold it for the reformers. Our church pro- 
perty as well as all power are, in effect, in the hands, or 
under the control of the superintendents, and should the 
constitutional test obtain, will destroy all hopes of any le- 
gal or regular change for the better. This controlling or 
disposing power over public property in men who hold an 
office for life, is one of the essential principles of an abso- 
lute government, and by an extension of territory, must con- 
tinue to increase indefinitely. The disclaiming of all right 
or pretension to taxation by the General Conference amounts 
to nothing like a check upon the power of the superinten- 
dents over property ; but does in fact tend to promote it. 
Were it in the power of the travelling preachers, by any 
means, to secure an immediate support from the people, 
they might use the people's money to control the power of 
the episcopacy ; but in the present state of things they can 
neither occupy the houses, nor receive the people's volun- 
tary contribution, without an official signification of the ex- 
ecutive will. 

All the travelling preachers are at the disposal of the su- 
perintendents, and so long as there shall be more preachers 
than there are places to support them, the surplus number 
must be dependent, and to make this dependence univer- 
sal, no preacher has any security that his lot to "turn out" 
may not come next. It avails nothing that the public pro- 
perty is the keeping of trustees or stewards. If the houses 
cannot be taken from the preachers, the preachers may be 
taken from the houses. The members of the church have 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 247 

in reality no church property, and the travelling preach- 
ers have none in effect. The latter are tenants at will, and 
at the end of each year may be removed. Are we not vir- 
tually acting over again St. Peter's patrimony, and Peter 
pence ? In monarchies public property is vested in the 
crown, and of course, in him who wears it; hence we hear 
of his majesty's arms and armies," and kingdom, &,c. — of 
"we, by the grace of God" — and of "the Pope's bull," 
(bulla) seal affixed to his official acts. By ''the grace of 
God" is meant the "divine right/' &c. 

To whom did all the Methodist chapels and houses for the 
preachers in England belong ? Why, to the Rev. John 
Wesley, this is evident from his deed of settlement. By 
what right did he hold them ? Was it by a divine right? 
Perhaps not, for it seems they were all given to him by the 
people ; and the laws of England recognize deeds of gifts, 
and other kinds of donations. It appears to Dr. Armi- 
stead, that the hundred on whom this property was settled 
by its original holder, though they "at this day pursue the 
very spirit and genius of the Wesleyan organization," have 
no superintendency and no ordination. Is it not wonder- 
ful that an hundred superintendents and perpetual members 
of the conference, and holders of millions of public proper- 
ty, which is every day accumulating on their hands, should 
have no superintendency ; no one of their own body vested 
with an absolute supremacy over the remaining ninety and 
nine brethren for life ! Verily this looks a little suspicious. 
Query. Have these "fathers" of ours, as it respects them- 
selves personally, a faint and confused notion of what would 
in America be called mutual rights ? We will make you 
president this year, brother, and you shall station us — next 
year you shall fall into the ranks again, and some one of us 
will station you. 0, these cautious old Englishmen ! The 
doctor is paying them a left handed compliment, which he 
himself does not understand. We marvel most of all to 
learn, that these elder brethren of ours can find it in their 
hearts to hold this precious legacy, and use and enjoy it in 
their own behoof without ordination, a thing which we hold 
so sacred, that we can confide it to none but the hands of 
our bishops; and in case it should ever happen, that there 
shall be none in our church, there shall be no more ordina- 
tions until the elders shall ordain a bishop. "The European 
church," says this wonderful writer, (he should have said 
itinerant preachers) in the present day has pursued, and 



248 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

again "the European societies" (itinerant preachers) have 
no ordination, &c. 

Ah, this property, this property ! The hundred itinerant 
preachers "are never known to locate," it seems "they sus- 
tain their high mission, detached from worldly lucre and pro- 
fessional pelf of a monied monopoly, in order to keep sa- 
cred the holy ministry." The learned Dr. in his profound lu- 
cubrations about monarchy and aristocracy, has not told us 
yet, whether the right to this church property comes through 
"the Wesleys as from the fountain of God." Doubtless, if 
there be any jure divino, (divine right) in this business, it 
ought in all reason to be extended to these more solid and 
substantial matters, which are so peculiarly liable to be af- 
fected by conflicting earthly claims. The value of the di- 
vine right to these visible and tangible goods, must have 
been very apparent to the Jesuits when all their immense 
wealth in Europe and both the Indies were confiscated. 

The hundred successors of Mr. Wesley, who compose 
the British conference, unite in themselves all the powers 
and functions that are exercised by our General Conference 
and superintendents. They are all bishops de facto. Our 
ordination conveys nothing which Mr. Wesley did not give 
to them. He was not a partial father, much less did he dis- 
inherit his fist born ; we congratulate our British brethren 
in this thing, that they have good sense enough not to run 
after names and shadows. There is neither divine nor hu- 
man obligation binding on our General Conference to con- 
fer a life office on any man. We know to a certainty that 
Mr. Wesley never meant to confer any power for life upon 
the superintendents which he and Dr. Coke ordained, for he 
actually had it in contemplation to recall Mr. Asbury ; of 
such an event Mr. Asbury was so well aware, that he took 
special care to prevent it, by getting himself elected super- 
intendent by the American preachers. 

PART II. 

We may not say any thing concerning Mr. Wesley's pow- 
er least we should involve ourselves in Dr. Armstead's 
charge of blasphemy; fortunately for us, the plan of this es- 
say does not make it necessary that we should interfere with 
his mode of government or any other. Our subject is church 
property, rather than church polity. It is matter of some 
surprise, that the writers upon primitive church government 



SNETHENON LAY REPRESENTATION. 249 

should have said so little concerning the primitive church 
property. In whom was the right and title then vested? In 
the church or in the ministry ? And if in the latter, was it 
in the many, the few, or in one ? Property and power in 
civil governments, are apt to go hand in hand. What ex- 
amples of this kind are to be found in church history ? The 
poverty of the apostles was proverbial; they had no certain 
dwelling place, and sometimes wanted means to procure 
food and raiment. The man who was not a whit behind 
the chiefest among them, could not "keep sacred the holy 
ministry" from "professional pelf" but had occasionally to 
" locate" long enough to work with his own hands at the 
trade of tent-making to supply his bodily wants. 

Who had the greatest possessions during his life time, 
Simon whose surname was Peter, or John, whose surname 
was Wesley ? Have we any evidence in the New Testa- 
ment that the former made any deed of settlement of cha- 
pels, preachers' houses, &c. ? Perhaps the Jews were not 
as generous as the English. — But Mr. Wesley was a most 
liberal and disinterested man 1 — Be it so. On this point we 
make no question, Still however, did he not hold a title to 
more property, and exercise more power than any plebian 
subject in England! Now admitting that both were given 
to him, and in some instances almost forced upon him, and 
that he did not dare to renounce his title to the premises, 
any more than to part with his power, all we mean to infer 
is, that even under these circumstances he was not a poor 
man. When any one has a right and title to property, it 
makes him rich. Mr. Wesley was rich in church property, 
and he knew and felt that he was so. If he had been a poor 
man he would have felt differently, and others would have 
felt differently towards him. To say that he was not ex- 
travagant, or luxurious, not given to Nepotism, or the enrich- 
ing of the children of his brothers and sisters ; or that he 
was no miser, &c. is not to demonstrate that he was not 
rich, and did not feel like a rich man. Numbers of rich 
men have been free from those vices. Mr. Wesley was a 
man of like passions with us, and could it be proved that 
he was ever heard to say he felt like a man without pro- 
perty or power, we might question his word without im- 
peaching his veracity. He might think he felt so, not know- 
ing exactly how poor and dependent poor men feel; or 
might labor under some degree of misapprehension respect- 
ing his own feelings. Is it in the power of any man to sus- 



250 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

tain or call back, the actual feelings of poverty and depend- 
ence when he becomes lord of thousands ? Rich men, and 
men in power may, no doubt, be eminently good and pious, 
but not infallible. With the change of our circumstances 
our minds and feelings undergo changes, in a greater or less 
degree imperceptible to ourselves. 

It is beyond all doubt, that the sovereigns of public pro- 
perty, as well as the possessors of private wealth, are differ- 
ently affected. We only mean to say that both kinds of 
possessions are powerful exciters in the breasts of those 
who hold them ; and the history of public men sufficiently 
attest the difficulty which the wisest and best have to en- 
counter in keeping the excitement produced by the posses- 
sion of public property and power within proper bounds. 
The history of Mr. Wesley and his own writings, afford ir- 
resistible evidence, that constitutionally considered he forms 
no exception to the general character of human nature. 
And to plead in his behalf the efficacy of grace, is to admit 
the fact; for if the feelings common to men in like circum- 
stances were subdued by grace, or prudence, or any other 
countervailing means, they must have existed antecedently 
to the remedy. Many examples might be adduced, which 
are related and admired among his friends themselves to 
prove our position. One may suffice. Having lodged 
with a certain preacher on a Saturday night, they two went 
into the pulpit together on Sunday morning. Mr. Wesley 
at the close of the service, without consulting the preach- 
er, announced an appointment for him in the evening. The 
preacher, repeating his words, said he would not preach 
there in the evening ; to which Mr. Wesley immediately 
subjoined, that the preacher was no longer a member of his 
connexion. Without any apparent heat or agitation, they 
returned to the house, dined together, and parted for ever. 
Could any man who felt poor and dependent venture upon 
such a procedure ? Here we see the spontaneous emotion of 
feelings, the origin and nature of which we cannot mistake 
or confound with others. High minded preachers of inde- 
pendent spirits, undrilled and unbroken by power, will sel- 
dom fail to test the genuine feelings which belong to those 
who have entire control over church property. Mr. Wes- 
ley in this case did not in reality, partake of the hospitality 
of the preacher. The house, the table, were all Mr. Wes- 
ley's, as well as the chapel; and the preacher was employ- 
ed only upon the condition of passive obedience. We are 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 251 

aware, that the relation of father and son has usually been 
applied to these cases ; but should such relation be admit- 
ted, it would rather strengthen than invalidate the argument 
in favor of the existence of the feelings of mastery. 

Let us now revert to the memorable instance of the com- 
munity of goods in the primitive church. This property it 
seems was "laid at the apostles' feet," but they declined the 
trust; and requested the brethren to look out among them- 
selves men on whose fidelity they could rely as their trus- 
tees, stewards, or deacons. There is reason to believe, that 
they never did leave the word of God to serve these tables : 
for had they done so, it is probable, that the Helenists 
would not have murmured that their widows were neglect- 
ed. Look ye out, said they, among you seven men of ho- 
nest report, and full of the Holy Ghost, whom we may ap- 
point over this business. Was not this a favorable oppor- 
tunity for the apostles to have used the argument so often 
resorted to among us? The people came to them, brought 
the property to them, and gave them the power, &c. But, 
instead of availing themselves of any advantage of this kind, 
they neither used the power nor selected others to do it for 
them. This contrast is not at all favorable to our econ- 
omy. 

The consequences of exclusive proprietorship in public 
property in the Catholic church is well known, and has long 
been seriously deplored ; but it seems that we take no 
warning from the experience of others. We have fully set 
forth our determination to participate with our elder breth- 
ren in evangelizing the world. The General Conference, 
in their address, contemplate a meeting between the Bri- 
tish Missionaries and ours, some where on the eastern 
coast of Asia or Japan. But when Methodism shall thus 
have encircled the globe, will any regard be paid by the 
missionaries, and their senders, to the mutual rights of the 
ministers and the people of the Methodist Episcopal 
church? No such thing. These senior and junior brethren 
will divide the Methodist church property of the universe 
between them, without listening to any intimation, that the 
accumulation of so much wealth might seem to savor of 
monopoly or avarice, and might possibly be made to min- 
ister to ambition. 



252 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

PART III. 

We have said that Mr. Wesley was rich in church pro- 
perty; and that he knew and felt he was so. We say the 
same of our superintendents, they too know and feel that 
they have a hold on the public property, in virtue of the 
absolute prerogatives of their office, sufficiently firm to en- 
able them to dispossess any preacher whenever they may 
think proper. It is to no purpose to say, they cannot con- 
vert this property to their own private use. There is no 
reason to suppose they would do so, if they had the title 
in fee. Kings are not wont to use the property of the 
crown for their own private benefit, or in other words, to 
impoverish themselves as kings, in order to enrich them- 
selves as individuals. It is not to be supposed, that the 
holders of absolute power will be less ambitious than pro- 
digal or covetous monarchs. The glory of superintendents 
is proportionate to the amount of property they have in 
their possession. Every house that is built, and every col- 
lection that is made, adds to their consequence, by increas- 
ing their influence. Poor bishops of rich diocesses, are 
not common ; and poor universal bishops are much less so. 
The travelling preachers also, while their imaginations are 
dazzled with the idea of their share in the title of property, 
secured by deed to the General Conference, feel rich, and 
look down upon the poverty of local preachers ; their ex- 
clusive right to seats in the conferences, is, indeed, so flat- 
tering to their vanity, as, in most instances, to blind them 
to the actual state of things. Few of them can be brought 
to reflect steadily upon the fact, that they are little more 
than trustees for the bishops, who, as soon as they are 
elected and inducted into office, are no longer responsible 
to them. The power or privilege of electing to an abso- 
lute office for life, is the most dangerous that can be vested 
in any body of men. The importance that such electors 
are prone to attach to themselves, is pleasantly ridiculed in 
the story of the cardinal and the pope. The cardinal, 
when he wanted a favor, reminded his holiness, that he 
made him pope ; who, wearied at length with this impor- 
tunity, replied, "then let me be pope." 

The difference between Mr. Wesley's successors in Eng- 
land, and our superintendents, though so strangely con- 
founded in conference addresses, is evident, and for all 
practical purposes, to our disadvantage. One hundred men 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 253 

cannot act together executively, but must delegate one or 
more of their number. The British conference choose 
their presidents annually, and never the same man two 
years in succession. Now, when property is vested in one 
hundred out of a thousand, and the succession is to be 
kept up out of the remaining nine hundred, a year seldom 
elapses without some vacancy to be filled up ; the chance, 
therefore, of success among the older preachers, will justify 
a reasonable degree of hope of participation. The age 
which might almost ensure a seat in the British conference, 
would amount to a disqualification for our episcopacy. An 
office divisible into so many parts, is not only diminished 
in duration in the same hands, but the temptation to abuse 
it can scarcely exist. We are not a little surprised to find 
in this exclusive polity, so great an approach to republican 
usage. Almost all fears of a system of favoritism, are dis- 
sipated by these annual elections; as the presidents them- 
selves are subjected to the appointments of their succes- 
sors ; and the president, the chairman of districts, and 
members of conferences, as well as others, have common 
duties and common resources. 

Our superintendents are not only chosen members of the 
conferences, and presidents for life, with the power of 
choosing the presiding elders, and stationing all the preach- 
ers ; but to make them as independent as possible, they are 
pensioners on the book fund, to the lull amount of all de- 
mands. The discipline, by putting no check upon their 
power, presumes they can do no wrong. In one point of 
comparison, it must be confessed, that the American itiner- 
ant preacher seems to have the advantage of the British ; 
but another view of their condition will convince any one, 
that none of these seeming advantages can be realised. In 
England, travelling preachers who have fulfilled their pro- 
bation, are eligible to the vacancies in the conference. 
With us, they become members of the annual conference, 
and eligible to a seat in the General Conference, and, of 
course, nominal proprietors of the church property. Here 
their glory ends. Innocence or neutrality gives no security 
to our preachers, to an equality of appointments. Every 
preacher, as well as the presiding elders, may become a 
minister to the episcopacy. Probationers may manifest 
greater zeal for the prerogative, than men of long standing 
and experience. Offences must needs come, and do often 
come, in despite of the greatest prudence. No travelling 
22 



254 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

preacher can protect himself against episcopal suspicion, 
or jealousy, or displeasure, and however unjustifiable a 
bishop's feelings may be, he may retain them through life ; 
and perhaps transfuse them into the breasts of his col- 
leagues. It is possible, indeed, that they cannot all be 
united in a proscription ; but is it not infinitely more im- 
probable, that fifty men will withhold their votes for a pre- 
sidency, year after year, from every one who will not im- 
bibe their prejudices. The chances, therefore, of being 
driven, or persecuted out of connexion in the two systems, 
bear no proportion. Though an hundred men may be as 
true to their common interests, as one or five, and a feeling of 
dependence must be engendered in both instances, yet it is 
of the utmost importance to weaken and conceal the feeling 
as much as possible. 

It is a maxim with some, and every four years of expe- 
rience serves to confirm them in it, that if a preacher is not 
prepared to go all lengths in episcopal measures, he will do 
well to decline an election to a seat in the General Confer- 
ence. More than one travelling preacher might, perhaps, 
feelingly repeat in regard to Baltimore, with a member of 
the Synod of Dort. O Dort, Dort ! Baltimore, Balti- 
more ! would to God I had never seen thee ! The hero of 
opposition may return to his work, complacent in the con- 
sciousness of his own integrity, unawed by the fear of man ; 
but the eye of episcopal vigilance is upon him. His health 
declines, the afflictions of his family, and cares and wants 
multiply upon him. He needs a house at hand, for he can- 
not move afar off; he wants medicine, and bread ! To 
which of the saints will he now turn, to which of his friends 
say, pity me, O my friends, for the hand of God hath touched 
me ! What ! can he want a house, and a home, and the 
means of support, who inherits all houses, and property, to 
the exclusion of local preachers and the laity ? Can a 
member of that General Conference, to whom so many 
thousands have been deeded, become a houseless wanderer, 
a pennyless stranger, among a strange people ? Where 
now has the spirit of sympathy, and fellow feeling fled? 
O ! where are his brethren, whose turn may come next ! 
Is there no power in this heaven and earth to save him from 
the dread of starvation ? None. How is this? Plainly 
thus. When all is given away, nothing remains. The 
General Conference have given the bishops a life power 
over that very property, which the donors vested in them- 



SNETHENON LAY REPRESENTATION. 255 

selves. When they are made to know the worth of this 
property, by the want of it, at that very juncture they may 
be made to feel, that they can enjoy no part of it. And is 
there no remedy ? Are bishops and presiding elders all 
past feeling ? Perhaps there is one open door left ; what 
executive purpose can be so inflexible as not to relent, when 
executive measures have converted a poor and needy op- 
ponent. Oh ! we hope, that none of these elder brethren 
will refuse to join the music and dancing, when one who 
was lost is thus found ! 

We are not surprised to hear such unfeeling declaimers 
as Dr. Armistead, eulogizing all power, and confounding all 
distinctions among its holders ; but when we see these 
very notions of identity, put forth in official addresses of 
British and American conferences to each other, we are 
both mortified and surprised. The truth is, that no body of 
men, in church or state, are subject to greater humiliation, 
or liable to become more abject under the frowns of power, 
than our travelling preachers. They are made to feel their 
dependence in every nerve, and to drink the cup of sub- 
mission to the very dregs. 

The show, the noise, the studied harangue, or the flat- 
tering address, fail to divert us from an examination of the 
inward springs and movements of matters It is with the 
feelings we are concerned. Behold these three preachers ; 
one is a bishop, the other an itinerant, and the third local. 
They all occasionally occupy the same preaching house. 
Have they all equal property in it ? Does each know his 
own share in the premises ? Does a knowledge of the dif- 
ference of their claims to the title, produce no change in 
their feelings? Impossible. The proprietor feels differ- 
ently from the tenant ; and he who has neither deed nor 
lease, differently from them both. The last always feels 
poor, but the lord paramount alone feels securely rich. In 
what Methodist preaching house does a local preacher ever 
feel at home — feel the excitement, which a knowledge of 
right and title never fail to give? Well, the year has rolled 
round, the tenant, or the itinerant, is now all anxiety. 
Where shall he eat and drink, and his family be sheltered, 
and clothed, occupies all his thoughts, and fills his soul 
with a feeling of dependence. Itinerant preachers are 
sometimes heard to say, that local preachers are the hap- 
piest men in the world, because they can preach when and 
where they please, and are not dependent for a home and 



£56 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

bread. They mean by this, not so much to intimate their 
own state, as to chide local preachers for complaining of 
their privation of rights and privileges, &,c. forgetting, or 
aftecling to forget, that they are made dependent upon 
them for the conditions under which they are to exercise 
their ministry. We know how bishops feel, and how they 
must feel ; how itinerants feel, and how local preachers 
feel. Equality and unison of feelings, ought never to have 
been intended nor expected by the organizers of the sys- 
tem ; and if they actually were, the calculation was in vain, 
as no system could have been devised more effectually to 
destroy all unity of feeling. In a social system, as in the 
physical, it is only necessary to ascertain what kind of feel- 
ings will be generated, to be enabled to predict with almost 
uneering certainty, the practical results. Our bishops must 
be flattered, or their power must be resisted. But flattery 
is easier and more pleasant than resistance to operative 
power. Itinerant and local preachers and members of the 
church, therefore, will discover a proneness to flatter bish- 
ops. For the same reason, local preachers and members 
will feel disposed to flatter itinerant preachers. But can 
any reason be assigned, why the private members of the 
church should despise local preachers, or that they should 
manifest an indifference or aversion towards each other? 
Evidently, when the awe that the wealth and power of office 
inspires is longer felt, or ceases to operate under the dis- 
guise of flattery, the mind experiences a re-action, and 
seeks to revenge itself upon the name, or form of the office 
deprived of its attributes. Let the property and power 
which is really in our bishops, and nominally in the itinerant 
preachers, be transferred to the local preachers, and the 
public feelings will also be transferred. The flatterer pleases 
himself by his flattery, while he seeks to please those whom 
he flatters. And this pleasure proceeds from the relief 
which the mind experiences from the uneasy or painful sen- 
sation of fear. Mankind are sparing of their flattery to- 
wards those of whom they have nothing to hope, and from 
whom they have nothing to fear. The President of the 
United States is not flattered as a king ; but would be, if 
his power was as much feared. We are aware, that an 
intimation, that our bishops and itinerant preachers are 
feared by the members and the local preachers, will be 
repelled with great indignation. Indeed, our whole theory 
of feeling in this case, will be considered as vision- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 257 

ary and erroneous. Our statement is nevertheless true, 
and admits of the clearest demonstration. Mr. Wesley 
was greatly flattered, and so was Mr. Asbury. They, in- 
deed, mistook these expressions for the marks of love, and 
so did those who made them ; but though it is not to be 
doubted, that there was much sincere affection, this was to 
ihe men. Their property and power were feared ; and as 
was the fear, so was the flattery. Some of our bishops, we 
perceive, will be much flattered to the south and west of 
the Susquehanna, and much and deservedly loved too. But 
it does not now seem probable, that they will receive much 
eulogy from the north and east. If this shall prove to be 
the fact, will not the limits of their praise be the limits 
within which their power will be feared ? We beg that 
these remarks may be attended to, and carefully kept in 
mind. These are the data, on which we have predicated 
the separation of the north and the east, from the south and 
the west. Where their power is not flattered it will be re- 
sisted. This is not an unwarranted assertion ; it is not a 
new case ; it is the thing that hath already been. Leaving 
Mr. Wesley's name out of the minutes, is a parallel instance, 
and may be traced to a similar cause. The absence of the 
man, disclosed the workings of the fear; had he been pre- 
sent, flattery would have concealed it all. Traces of a si- 
milar operation may be observed in Dr. Coke's visits. His 
power was not half so much to be dreaded as Mr. Asbury's ; 
and yet the conference required articles to curb it, while he 
was in England. Of all the illusions which the human 
mind practises upon itself, none is more wonderful than 
that which takes place in the case of flattery. We always 
had occasion to notice, that Mr. Asbury placed his chief re- 
liance for the ascendency of his influence upon his pre- 
sence. Where trouble was, there was he ! 

We think matters are hastening to a crisis ; and that the 
times call for an exposure of this radical and fundamental 
error of our system. No good, as we can conceive, will 
come from a separation of men, or territory; unless the 
hold on property and power can be in some way equalized. 
The fear engendering principle must be purged out, not- 
withstanding all the wonders which flattery can perform, it 
will, in the end, be found, unable to supply the place of 
genuine love ; but genuine social love is alone the offspring 
of mutual rights. 
22* 



258 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 



PART IV. 

We come now to the influence of the power of our su- 
perintendents over property, in the election of their col- 
leagues and successors. The number of our bishops is not 
limited nor restricted. An episcopal committee, so called, 
is appointed in the General Conference, who, in their re- 
port, commonly make some reference to strengthening the 
episcopacy, that is, whether there shall be one or more new 
bishops ; for it seems to be taken for granted, that to in- 
crease the number is to strengthen the principle. The report 
in favor of adding one or more to the existing number of 
bishops being accepted, men are put in nomination by any 
one of the members, and balloted for; the highest on the 
list, having a majority of the whole, is declared to be duly 
elected, &c. 

We do not recollect to have heard of any example par- 
allel to this, either civil or ecclesiastical. Here the le- 
gislative power is exercised to make an indefinite number 
of supreme executive officers over the same territory or 
dominion ; just as if the congress of the United States 
should increase the number of presidents. In Sparta, we 
are told of two kings; two consuls also were in Rome ; but 
the senates or legislatures, exercised no prerogative over 
their number. Dioclesian, if we remember rightly, accord- 
ing to Gibbon, was the first who divided the imperial pow- 
er, by making Maximin his colleague. One would have 
supposed, judging by analogy, that the first concern of con- 
stitution makers would have been, to fix the number of uni- 
versal bishops. In the Catholic church, one such bishop is 
supposed to be sufficient for the whole habitable globe; this 
being the contemplated extent of that church. No acces- 
sion of territory, or increase of numbers ever gives rise in 
the Roman court, to any question about increasing the 
number of popes ; nor is it ever in the power of a pope to 
gain a successor, by promoting the election of a colleague. 
The present manner of electing bishops among us, is be- 
lieved to be altogether unprecedented in the history of elec- 
tions. The Roman cardinals, though chosen by the popes, 
and so far furnishing a precedent for the choosing of our 
presiding elders by the bishops, are not called upon to elect 
a pope in the very presence of a pope; and should they 
be called upon so to do, we are not sure that they would 
be liable to be degraded from their "eminence," if their 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 259 

choice were not found to accord with that of his "holiness" 
In all hierarchies except our own, (however strong may be 
the hope of promotion,) there seems to be little fear of de- 
gradation. The head of the church of England, if we right- 
ly understand the polity, does not work upon the fears of 
the dignified clergy; does not take away offices, and give 
them to those who are more worthy, but, "promotes," and 
"translates," and "collates." Their clergy may ascend, but 
not descend. Even the vicars are not apt to lose their 
livings, when they fail to jump in judgment with their supe- 
riors. 

If one or more of our bishops wants a successor, and can 
obtain influence enough through the presiding elders, to 
get a vote for strengthening the episcopacy, it must be an 
untoward circumstance indeed, which can prevent the elec- 
tion of his man. During the late electioneering campaign 
of four years, we were careful of our anticipations of the 
result, under a full persuasion, that be it as it might, data 
enough would be furnished to supersede all hypothesis. In 
truth, it would seem to have been in the highest degree pre- 
sumptuous in us, to have predicated what report says actu- 
ally did come to pass. A rumor has gone abroad, that a 
number of delegates, equal, as was supposed, to a majority 
of the General Conference, came with their votes pledged; 
and not satisfied thus to secure the election of one, they 
aimed to secure the election of two. Many reasons, and 
some of them plausible ones, might be adduced in favor of 
securing the choice of one ; but when we consider how 
near equally the members were divided, and how unanimous 
they were in their sectional divisions ; a determination to 
exclude every northern or eastern candidate or their friends, 
and thus subject half the connexion to take their appoint- 
ments from competitors and rivals in a great and important 
measure, looks so much like a war of extermination, that 
we cannot conceal our astonishment. But this extreme anx- 
iety to secure the election of particular men, must be refer- 
red to measures, and proves how much is to be feared from 
the unprecedented, and immense patronage of our bishops. 

The favorite measure is the veto, or the negative of the 
annual conferences, upon the proceedings of the General 
Conference. To carry this point, the whole weight of epis- 
copal or executive influence is made to bear upon it. And 
most unfortunately for the cause of impartial investigation, 
and the diffusion of information, the men in office seem to 



260 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

confound opposition to principles, with disobedience to es« 
tablished rules. No sooner is a measure proposed, or adopt- 
ed, than it is considered as criminal to examine its charac- 
ter, or point out its consequences. In nothing is the hie- 
rarchical spirit of our government more evident, than in this 
disposition to check free inquiry. 

The negativing or controlling power of the annual con- 
ferences over the acts of the General Conference, carries in 
it, in our estimation, as all vetos have ever done, the seeds 
and germs of ruin and desolation; but all arguments are si- 
lenced or turned against ourselves by this one reply, "you 
are enemies and opposers of the constitution." We are 
indeed, enemies and opposers of all vetos; and among them 
all, we can conceive of no one more dangerous than this. 
The effects of a veto are well known in the history of Rome 
and Poland; in both of which, it was productive of politi- 
cal ruin. The exercise of it in the Roman senate, was by 
the tribunes of the people, who, when any law was about 
to be passed, had only to rise and to say, veto, (I forbid it) 
and if the salvation of the state depended upon it, the uni- 
ted voice of the senate was in vain. Clodius the persecu- 
tor of Cicero, was one of these veto men, and Mark An- 
tony another. Both were immortalised by the parts they 
acted in hastening, or completing the downfall of the Ro- 
man commonwealth. But it is in Poland, that we are to 
look for the full effects of this mischievous negative. In 
the Polish diet, any individual, however humble, had the 
power of calling for a division of the meeting, on any ques- 
tion ; and one dissenting voice had the effect of rendering 
the whole deliberations ineffectual. This latter right, which 
was termed liberum veto, and which was repeatedly exercis- 
ed, was the cause of the greatest calamities, and of much 
blood-shed ; and in these modern times, within the period 
of our own memory, has conspired to accomplish the po- 
litical downfall of that nation of fifteen millions of people. 
A little specimen of this negative sovereignty, was in con- 
templation among the handful of young preachers who 
composed the Mississippi conference in 1822, and which 
they were only persuaded to suspend for a time, by a bishop. 
Their actual doings were strongly portrayed in the General 
Conference, by Mr. Ostrander, in a speech, the admiration 
or terror of all who heard it. This handful of young men 
passed a resolution, implicating more than two thirds of the 
General Conference, in treacherously betraying the consti- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 261 

tution ; and eulogizing a bishop for his fidelity, courage and 
zeal, in timely arresting these fatal measures, &c. We 
may be sure, that no resolutions, protests, or negatives, from 
the borders and out-skirts, will come against the bishops for 
usurpation of power. How can a bishop act unconstitu- 
tionally, unless he yield a portion of the prerogative? 

Mr. Soule's election is identified with the veto; and but 
for this, we should feel no inclination to make any reference 
to it. His zeal for the cause, procured him executive pa- 
tronage. And executive patronage, procured his election. 
As the bishop of the south and west, the writer of this es- 
say, considers him as his bishop for life; confidently antici- 
pating, as the least effect of his efforts, to obtain the test 
act, a north eastern and south western church. Already, 
therefore, in effect, we view Mr. George and Mr. Hedding, 
as bishops of a separate church ; and the weight of Mr. 
Roberts and his increasing years, we presume, will cause 
him to gravitate to Indiana. We repeat, we consider Mr. 
Soule as our bishop for life. And as we shall continue, as 
we ever have done, to oppose by every lawful means, his 
favorite measure ; we calculate on meeting from him, all 
kinds of direct and indirect opposition to mutual rights. 
For, betwixt these and the negative power of the annual 
conferences, in the manner and to the extent which he con- 
templates, there is an utter and irreconcilable opposition. 
But in this warfare of opinion, we trust, we shall not con- 
found the man, the christian, or the preacher of the gospel, 
with a competitor in ecclesiastical and ministerial polity, we 
think, we know, what is due to offices and to their holders; 
and some experience gives us a degree of confidence, in 
our ability to resist the usual temptations to violate known 
duties. 

Somewhere about the memorable 1776, (date not exactly 
recollected,) the few preachers who formed the conference 
in America, resolved "that Mr. Asbury," after hearing all 
that the preachers had to say for and against, the questions 
which were proposed, "should give the answers according 
to the minutes," That is, as we suppose, Mr. Wesley's 
general assistant, as well as himself, was not to take the 
vote of the preachers upon questions, (all matters were 
brought before the conferences in the form of questions) 
but to decide, after allowing the preachers to give their 
opinions. The legislative power was then assimilated to 
the judicial. Must not the advantages of this mode of 



262 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

answering questions, have had a decided advantage over 
the round about way of securing an answer through the 
negative of an annual conference? How many annual con- 
ferences, will hear all that is said for and against questions? 
But if it be supposed, that the veto of the annual confer- 
ences, will be the mere echo of the bishop's opinion, why 
not keep to the old mode of answering according to the 
minutes? 

We know not when the practice of voting first crept into 
the American conferences. Was it in 17S4? It is probable 
it was then practised, as Mr. Asbury was elected by a vote 
of the conference, in Lovely lane; and we know of no ev- 
idence, that either he or Dr. Coke, gave the answer to the 
question, shall we become a Methodist Episcopal Church? 
Mr. Wesley had, in fact, determined this, and all the other 
questions; and sent his determinations over by Dr. Coke, 
little suspecting that they would become liable to a vote in 
the American conference. But however these matters might 
have been, the inconvenience of voting soon began to be 
felt; and to prompt the executive to put some check, or in 
some way to modify the consequences, the council plan, in 
our opinion, was, set on foot for this purpose. One of the 
ostensible reasons assigned for the council, was, the im- 
mense saving of time and expense, which would be occa- 
sioned by substituting it for a General Conference; and, 
certainly, if the annual conferences are to have a veto, upon 
all measures which superintendents may pronounce uncon- 
stitutional, they would save much. The council, the con- 
stitutional test, &c. are only coming round again to, 
"Brother Asbury's answering the questions according to the 
minutes." This legislating in General Conference by a 
majority of men, who have not a life office, in common, 
may be attended with alarming consequences to executive 
men. For, notwithstanding the hot fits of loyalty among 
the preachers — the patronage of property in the bishops— 
and the influence of presiding elders in the General Con- 
ference, long-sighted bishops now clearly perceive, that, 
unless they can go round the continent in quest of a veto, 
they may be found in a minority, and so lose their hold on 
the legislative reins; and with that, their control over the 
General Conference. We do really consider the constitu- 
tional test as a bishop's last resort. This defeated, and a 
steady pursuit of judicious measures, may lead to something 
like an independent legislation among Methodist preachers. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 263 

And we have no doubt, that if ever the executive and leg- 
islative power, can be in any measure separated, the rights 
of the members of the church, to a participation in the lat- 
ter, will no longer be resisted. 

We are conscious of the vast odds, at which we are en- 
gaged in this controversy; but we are equally conscious of 
its infinite importance. The present system embraces almost 
all the faults and vices of all hierarchies and monopolies of 
power, with very few of their benefits. 

Nicholas Snethen. 

Linganore. 



No. 50. 

Mutual Rights, vol. i. March, 1S25, page 294. 

Remarks on the 15th of the Acts, and certain Articles of 'one 
of the Laity.' 

No. I. 

"Certain men which came down from Judea, taught the 
brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the man- 
ner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." That is, except ye 
become Jews, as well as Christians, ye cannot be saved. 
After this period, we find James in conversation with Paul, 
reminding him, that there were many thousands of Jews 
who believed, and who were all zealous of the law. They 
are called the sect or party of believing Pharisees. From 
this fact, and the declaration in the letter, "to whom we 
gave no such commandment," as well as from the almost 
unavoidable necessity of the case, it seems probable, that 
these men maintained their opposition to Paul and Barna- 
bas, by pleading the authority and example of the apostles 
and elders at Jerusalem. If these men had not come from 
Judea, would the case have been referred to Jerusalem ? 
Or was this a case, to which Mosheim refers the deference 
paid to that mother church ? All the apostles, upon the 
supposition of their inspiration, must have been agreed re- 
specting the liberty of the Gentiles ; and in this, it is pro- 
bable, they were followed by the best informed, and most 
intelligent of the Jewish believers. But among the many 
thousands who were zealous of the law, there were, no 
doubt, not wanting those who pressed upon the Gentile 
converts the rite of circumcision, with all its legal conse- 



£64 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

quences. The "much disputing," mentioned in the se- 
venth verse, seems to have been by these believers, who 
were zealous of the law, and not by the apostles and elders. 
But if so, they must have been present ; and have had a 
right to speak. We cannot think, that all those elders at 
Jerusalem were preachers, much less, travelling preachers. 
Among the Jews there were elders by age, as well as by 
office. How many itinerant elders were stationed in Jeru- 
salem, in company with how many apostles? Were there 
no deacons ? The question at the meeting was, whether 
the Gentile converts should be circumcised or not ; on this 
question, Paul's judgment as an inspired apostle was deci- 
sive, as is evident from his epistles, see Galatians, "I cer- 
tify again," says he, "to every one that is circumcised, that 
he is a debtor to do the whole law ; Christ is become of 
none effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the 
law, ye are fallen from grace." In favor of our opinion, 
that the brethren or members of the church were present, 
and had admission into these kinds of conferences, we pro- 
duce also Galatians, ch. i. v. 4, see the whole paragraph. 
"And that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, 
who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have 
in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage." 
The verse is not so perspicuously translated as might be 
wished ; the meaning seems to be, that they concealed their 
Bentiments and designs; and not that they were personally 
hidden from view. It is remarkable, that this also was an 
affair of circumcision — that the attempt was made to com- 
pel Titus to be circumcised ; but St. Paul says they would 
not submit, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the Gospel 
might continue with you." The following are the very 
words of the historian St. Luke : "Then it pleased the apos- 
tles and elders, with the whole church" "And they wrote 
by thern after this manner; The apostles, and elders, and 
brethren, greeting, unto the brethren which are of the Gen- 
tiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia." Now, admitting 
that this historian did say, that "they delivered them the 
decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and 
elders," or, that he had said, apostles — or elders — or, that 
they were ordained, without mentioning the ordainers, in 
whole or in part, it would not have invalidated the letter, a 
copy of which he has preserved verbatim. The apostles, 
elders, and brethren, greeting — what business had the breth- 
ren to greet, or to say it seemed good unto them 1 Query, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 265 

might not Mosheim have quoted this text in favor of "his 
ipse dixit V Now we shall take occasion to say, it seems 
to us, that in strictness of speech, or of principle, the elders 
had no more authority in this business than had the laity. 
If it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost, was not that 
enough ? Observe how Paul, in writing to the churches, 
associates others with himself. "Paul and Timotheus and 
Sylvanus." Paul, and all the brethren that are with me. 
But we never hear of the Epistles of Sosthenes, and Ti- 
motheus, and Sylvanus. Admitting that our brother could 
prove the identity of those elders, and our travelling elders, 
how would he make out his conclusion, that the latter have 
a right to make laws or rules for the government of the 
church ; and that the members of the church must be ex- 
cluded from their legislative conferences? Would those 
primitive elders have had a right to form and change 
books of discipline, without the Holy Ghost, without the 
apostles, as well as without the brethren ? This layman 
follows in the track of certain of the itinerants, and their 
zealous advocates, in assuming, that the elders of the New 
Testament and our itinerant elders are as much alike as 
peas ; and that all the primitive preache v s were travelling 
preachers. Let us put a case. Suppose a question was 
referred to Philadelphia, and the historian should say, that 
the elders came together to consider it, how would he ex- 
clude the local elders from the number ? As our General 
Conference are supposed to be so entirely scriptural in all 
their doings, and as they make local elders, must we not 
suppose that the primitive authorities made local elders 
also ? Perhaps there were local elders in Jerusalem who 
came together with the apostles, and joined with them to 
the exclusion of the laity, in ordaining the decrees for to 
keep. What would the laity say, if local preachers should 
reason thus — thus quote scripture instead of their "ipse 
dixit!" It seems to us, that the evidence is wanting of 
such universal and constant itinerancy, even among the 
apostles, as our writers commonly tell us of. Even our 
itinerant champions follow Dodwell, in making James bishop 
of Jerusalem, &,c. Why not make ****** bishop of 
Philadelphia. Is it credible, that St. Paul labored more 
abundantly than all the eleven men who were constantly on 
horseback? Did he travel more than eleven times as much 
as they ? We have all along employed this 15th of the 
Acts, in opposition to this resurrection of Popish principles 
23 



%66 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

in our General Conference — this clanish monopoly of pow- 
er — this image of a Hindoo cast — this stand by thyself, for 
we are holier than thou — this, this ! the hand trembles to 
write it, what is this ! Ah, who can tell, who can compre- 
hend, who can describe or foresee what it will be ; what it 
is to come to, or where it will stop? It is all power over 
all flesh, in the church, and in the local ministry. 

It seems that it rejoices this good man's heart, that the 
travelling preachers have the confidence of so great a 
number of the members of the church ; but what has con- 
fidence in the men, to do with powers that alter not. There 
will not, probably, be a majority of those holy men who 
composed the General Conference in 1824, in the General 
Conference of 1828 ; and still less in 183*2. Does he re- 
joice that the spirit of unchangeability and infallibility, will 
be with the successors of these itinerants to the end of the 
world ? 

Was not Mosheim right in saying, that the people were 
consulted ? &,c. Why, even the blessed and eternal spirit 
of truth, did not shut the church out of doors. The whole 
church was present with him, and he suffered the members 
to speak freely; and there was "much disputing" before he 
signified his mind, and when he had signified it, he allowed 
the whole church to express their consent, and to greet the 
brethren. "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and unto 
us — " To do what? Why, "to lay upon you no greater 
burden than these necessary things." And what are they ? 
"That ye abstain from meats ottered to idols, and from 
blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication." 
Now, if these apostles and elders must still be considered 
as the authority, the rule and the model of our itinerant 
bishops and elders, (the church apart,) should not the imi- 
tators be strictly bound by the precedent ? How many ne- 
cessary things has it, does it, will it not seem good unto our 
apostles and elders to do affirmatively, as well as negatively? 
How many rules will they alter, and mend, and make, and 
bind upon us, by the pains and penalties of excommunica- 
tion, without greeting us, or bidding us farewell ? this 
awful sovereignty without inspiration ! this unbounded, this 
terrible power in hands that may change every four years ; 
this omnipotence of legislation in new men, men of yester- 
day, whom we know not ; this power to bind and to loose, 
to open and to shut, which can all be managed by a few 
men, or by one, through unheard of means of patronage 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 267 

over legislators. What mind can contemplate it without 
terror and dismay ! 

Our lay brother considers himself an "unprejudiced man, 
not influenced by party feeling." We are sorry that he has 
given this opinion of himself; and the more so, as he seems 
to us not to understand the matter under the consideration 
of Cincinnatus. The obnoxious men, the authors of all 
the mischief, the local preachers, never appeared in print 
until 1821, which was months after all the events had taken 
place of which Cincinnatus speaks. Now, we should be 
glad to know, what the local preachers had to do with all 
the doings and undoings of May, 1820. What they had to 
do with the caucuses, and agitations, and suspensions, and 
constitutional tests of 1824. And what have they now to 
do with the formal, and distant, and ceremonious want of 
cordial feeling, which spreads itself through every grade 
and department of the itinerancy. 

But his "wrong is wrong," is worthy of all acceptation. 
He has wronged the local preachers, but he has done it in 
ignorance. The true state of men and matters is this. 
The travelling preachers are almost equally divided, one 
part are contending with the other for their rights ; the local 
preachers are contending for their rights ; but not for theirs 
only, or to the exclusion of the rights of the travelling 
preachers or the members ; and instead of arguments, 
"One of the Laity" offers reflections upon their motives 
and conduct, which ought not to have appeared in print, 
because they cannot be proved nor answered. It is aston- 
ishing that "One of the Laity" seems not to be apprised of 
the fact, that on page 229 he is verging on towards the very 
same ground, which in society involves interminable quarrels. 
How are such assertions answered ? how can they be an- 
swered ? Shall we descend to "you did, and I did not?" 
He should not have said, "to the cupidity of the locality ; 
I mean their unlawful longing to regain power," &c. The 
locality can only deny what this writer says. It will be 
hard to keep the passions asleep, while the eye glances 
over such language as this : "I mean their unlawful long- 
ing to regain the power, which, in virtue of their being 
called by the Holy Ghost to act as ambassadors of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, they were once rightfully possessed of; and 
which they voluntarily resigned." Does this writer really 
believe that those of the locality to whom he alludes, are 
actually desirous to obtain power to make laws for the 



268 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

church, without her consent ? Matters between this brother 
and the locality, have come to a very unpleasant dilemma. 
Do those local preachers, who advocate mutual rights, still 
suppose, that travelling preachers, in virtue of their being 
called of the Holy Ghost to act in the capacity of ambassa- 
dors, are rightfully possessed of power to legislate for others 
without their consent ? This is the very point at issue in 
the controversy. But waiving their opinions, this is the 
first time we ever heard of ambassadors being made ex 
officio legislators and governors. In the good old times of 
Paul, ambassadors for Christ used to pray men in Christ 
stead to be reconciled to God ; and some local preachers 
do so still, believing that they are called of the Holy Ghost 
so to do. We will conclude with a quotation from an old 
instrument, which the English nation used formerly to pro- 
fess a great reverence for, commonly called Magna Charta : 

"Right will we sell to none, to none deny; 
Nor right, nor justice will delay " 

No. II. 
In our first number we complained of "One of the Laity" 
for a charge against the locality, which admitted of no re- 
ply but a denial; and we are sorry to find other matters of 
the same nature, to which, as we do not feel ourselves bound 
to plead not guilty, we shall, as most becoming our self-re- 
spect, pass in silence. Our friends, Nehemiah and Amicus, 
we will leave to manage their own matters, in their own 
way; and begin with the following sentence. "I am con- 
strained, 'fearlessly 5 to repeat, that if the account of the 
government of the primitive churches, given by St. Luke, 
ought to be preferred to that of Mosheim, then, and in that 
case, 'the Methodist ministers have the right to absolute go- 
vernment over those whom God has given them as the fruit 
of their labors.' " The word "absolute," transcends the 
original itself.* The travelling preachers, here called Me- 
thodist ministers, in contradistinction, we suppose, to local 
preachers, have only had claimed for them the right to go- 
vern ; but it has not come to our knowledge, as yet, that 
any of them claim the right of absolute government.— 
This was not apparent to us in the late address, &/C If 
they do really make this claim, we hope, that on some con- 
venient occasion, they will make it known officially, that 
we may demean himself accordingly. It nearly concerns 
those, in a special manner, who have been awakened ancl 

* See Vindication of Methodist Episcopacy, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 269 

converted through their ministry to know it; for not a few 
of them, we are persuaded, remain ignorant of it to this 
day. The right to this absolute government, is predicated 
upon St. Luke's account of the government of the primi- 
tive churches. Is the word churches here in the plural an 
oversight? Or does the writer really believe that there were 
churches in the primitive times, subject to a supremacy, 
and a foreign jurisdiction? But where does he find St. 
Luke's account of the government of the primitive churches? 
We had, some how or other, taken up the idea, that the ac- 
count or history of the primitive government, by an inspir- 
ed writer, is wanting ; and in this opinion we have found 
ourselves not alone. If he calls the passages he has quo- 
ted, an account of the government of the primitive church- 
es; we think he will have to take his words back again, as 
being too strong. By his own account, the authority was 
"judicial," and the capacity "judicial." We quote his words 
at large; "They delivered them the decrees or laws, 
which the apostles and elders, those of them who it would 
seem, (though they were itinerants) resided chiefly at Je- 
rusalem, had, by their judicial authority, or in their judicial 
capacity, enacted and ordained." Now we shall wait for 
this writer to tell us, whether in the primitive churches there 
was not only a foreign jurisdiction, and a sort of suprema- 
cy ; but whether the legislative, executive, and judical au- 
thorities and capacities were all jumbled or mixed together? 
Again, he says, "I beg that it may not be forgotten, that 
under this form of government, the churches were estab- 
lished in the faith, and increased in number daily, just as 
the societies in the Methodist Episcopal Church, (why did 
he not say Methodist Episcopal Churches) under their pre- 
sent form of government." A most extraordinary parallel 
surely. He calls the letter, which was written to the Gen- 
tile converts, "this form of government." Now, if they had 
had no other laws but these, would they not have come 
within one of being "without law ? " It so happens that 
this decree {dogmata) which was ordained (Kekrimena) of 
the Apostles and elders presupposes the very principle of 
our common Christianity, on which all churches are estab- 
lished. For if circumcision had been decieed, those churches 
would have been debters to do the whole law ; a yoke would 
have been imposed upon them, which neither ancient nor 
modern Jews were able to bear. It was a point of doctrine 
that was disputed ; there is not a word, not a hint occurs 
23* 



270 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

respecting government and discipline. St. Luke, like a good 
historian as he was, gives us a plain straight forward narra- 
tion. He says, "they," the members of the church, "de- 
termined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others of 
them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and el- 
ders about the question," viz. "whether they should "be 
circumcised, after the manner of Moses, or not?" We re- 
peat, the case is a plain and identical one. A point of 
doctrine was to be decided between Paul and Barnabas, on 
the one side, and certain men who came down from Judea, 
on the other; and the result was entirely favorable to Paul 
and Barnabas. The men on whom the chief reliance was 
probably placed by the supporters of circumcision, that is, 
Peter, sometimes called, the apostle of the circumcision, 
and James, delivered their sentiments on the occasion; and 
these speeches, in substance, the historian has recorded. 
Peter concludes by saying, "Why tempt ye God," &c. 
"We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, we shall be saved even as they." And James, thus, 
"My sentence is, that we trouble not them which from 
among the Gentiles are tinned to God ; but that we write 
unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and 
from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. 
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach 
him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." So 
they took no vote, or made no decree in form, upon the 
point of circumcizing the Gentiles, thus admitting, that the 
doctrine was sufficiently established ; and the Gentiles were 
free from the ceremonial law. 

In regard to Acts, xvi. 4, 5, we will, as this writer says, 
make "a reference to the context." "Then," after James 
had concluded, "it pleased the apostles and elders, with 
the whole church, to send chosen men of their own com- 
pany to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas, 
surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the breth- 
ren. And they wrote by them after this manner : The apos- 
tles, and elders, and brethren send greeting unto the breth- 
ren which are of the Gentiles, in Antioch, and Syria, and 
Cilicia;" (were there no brethren of the Jews in these 
churches?) "Forasmuch as we have heard," &c. "it seem- 
ed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send 
chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul," 
&>c. ''We have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, who shall 
also tell you the same thing by word of mouth," &/C. "So 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 271 

when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch ; and when 
they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the 
epistle; which when they had read, they rejoiced at the 
consolation. And Judas and Silas, being prophets," (not 
elders.) ''And after they had tarried a space, were let go in 
peace from the brethren unto the apostles. And Paul chose 
Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren 
unto the grace of God : and he went through Syria and Ci- 
licia confirming the churches." "And as they went through 
the cities, they delivered the decrees (that is a copy of the 
letter) for to keep, which were ordained (determined on) of 
the apostles and elders at Jerusalem," &c. 

By this reference, is it not "very evident" that "One of 
the Laity" has quite over-labored both text and context ; and 
drawn inferences from them unwarranted by either. We 
hope he will not again so "fearlessly" repeat them. But a 
word in regard to the hope of our brother. He is not, it 
seems, such a fool as to mean by the above declaration, 
that the Methodist ministers have the "right" to control or 
or overrule the civil laws of our free and happy country. 
Well now this is mighty patriotic, we will not suppose him 
to be a fool any how ; but is it not somewhat improper and 
unbecoming in him, to be making such suppositions, how 
those who have an absolute government over him may ex- 
tend their right, or for what purposes they may, or may not, 
use him as an instrument. 

This "One of the Laity" is not mealy mouthed, he don't 
mince matters, he seems, as a politician, more honest than 
long headed. "Generally speaking," he says, "the people 
care little how the church is governed, so that they are se- 
cured in a regular supply of spiritual preachers." If this 
supply should fail, what would they do then ? Would they 
begin to care a little how the church is governed ? Cares, 
like repentance, sometimes come too late, Had he said, 
the people care little how the country is governed, would 
his fellow citizens have thanked him for the compliment? 
Truly, if the people care not how the church is governed, 
their governors will, in process of time, care little how they 
govern them. This indifference is one of the awful, and 
undoubted evidences of the effects of an absolute govern- 
ment. We have long known and deplored "the fact," that 
the idea of being secured in a regular supply of spiritual 
preachers, has operated among us as a strange delusion. 
What is more idle and visionary, than to talk about security 



272 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

for any thing under an absolute government. Can a greater 
insult be offered to such a government, than to ask security 
of it? This was all the reformers petitioned the General 
Conference for; and it is now all that the friendsof mutual 
rights require. And how have these essays, and petitions 
and addresses, and arguments been met? How have their 
authors been treated ? Let any one, who can keep his feel- 
ings cool enough, to finish reading the essays of "One of 
the Laity," answer. A man after consigning body and soul 
to the absolute government of Methodist ministers, can yet 
talk of '-'such as had by locating lost their right in the law- 
making department of the church." 

We cannot help regarding it as a remarkable circum- 
stance, that letters in our possession, from the itinerant de- 
partment, not only contain, in substance, the remarks of 
this writer upon the hypocrisy and treacherous ambition of 
local preachers, but they are almost word for word. Have 
these opinions passed in the usual way from one to many, 
or do they rise spontaneously from a correspondence of 
views and feelings. We once inclined to believe the for- 
mer, but we have now some doubts whether the latter 
cause may not have considerable influence also; but be 
this as it may, there is such a circumstantial agreement in 
these altercations and recriminations, and the old whig and 
tory controversy, that it seems worth while to bestow some 
thoughts upon the subjects. From many cases, which we 
can recollect, we are well persuaded, that the tories, as they 
were called, were not, in the usual acceptation of the term, 
enemies of their country, or friends to tyranny. In what 
then did they differ from the whigs ? Why, in their un- 
bounded confidence in their rulers. True, said they, we 
may be taxed without our consent; but we ought to help 
to bear the expenses of the mother country; the parlia- 
ment will never tax us unreasonably. The whigs, on the 
contrary, looked steadily at the principle ; if the parliament, 
said they, assume the right, or the power, to take a penny, 
without our consent, they may take a pound; and if one 
pound, all our property. How was this last argument re- 
sisted ? We now look back, with wonder, upon the blind 
and obstinate attachment of our countrymen to the then 
existing powers. But there was another cause operating 
on their minds, while their confidence was strong in the 
goodness of the king and parliament; their partizans took 
care to influence their feelings against the asserters of prin- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 273 

ciple. Fou have, said they, more to fear from these revo- 
lutionists, than from the established government, which will 
not take more than is necessary. It was by this means, 
that principle was lost sight of, and passion and prejudice 
were raised to the highest degree. Why is it, that our 
brother cannot feel the force of his own maxim, "wrong is 
wrong." Absolute government is wrong in principle, and 
confidence in it is wrong. All these worthy itinerants are 
creatures of a day. Men are given to change ; but princi- 
ples are immortal. The principles of these obnoxious tra- 
velling and local preachers, and the brethren with whom 
they act, are right. They say, and they say truly, that the 
best of men ought not to be trusted with unnecessary pow- 
ers and prerogatives. We are grieved to think, that our 
brother could find it in his heart, to lend the aid of his, 
otherwise correct, pen, to give currency and strength to 
one of the most mischievous of all prejudices; prejudice 
against true principles, because the men who propagate 
them may be found, in the end, not true to them. But we 
hope that he has furnished to himself and his friends, a 
caveat, and a corrective in that awful, and indeed, horrible 
word "absolute." Will he not be terrified at it, when re- 
flected back, in all its shocking forms and colors ? Abso- 
lute government ! What demon, should one appear in 
America, would create greater alarm — the absolute govern- 
ment of the Methodist travelling ministers ! Will not the 
sound make the very blood run cold in the veins of our 
governors, and the hair of their heads stand on end. 
What! will not one and another of them say. does our 
friend, our admirer, our eulogist, call our government, over 
our dear children in the faith — those whom we have begot- 
ten, through the gospel, to a lively hope — the Lord's free 
men, "absolute !" We shrink from the title. Does he 
suppose, that the gospel makes us like the Grand Turk ! 
No, they will say, thou good but mistaken brother, "we 
were gentle among them, even as a nurse cherisheth her 
children." 

No. III. 

The contempt which "One of the Laity" has cast upon 
the understandings, and integrity of the Methodists, we 
shall let pass. If they are really of the opinion, that they 
cannot be safely trusted with any portion of self-govern- 
ment, be it so. The travelling preachers, however, have 



274 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

taken special care not to put their talents, or their inclina- 
tion to the test. How many of the brethren have made a 
benefit of necessity, we know not; but, we think, we may 
safely indulge in the belief, that if half the pains had been 
taken, to teach the laity the right of representation, that 
has been, to persuade them to be contented with the pri- 
vilege of having travelling preachers to make rules or laws 
for them without representation, a respectable number 
would have been found somewhat apt to learn. It is well 
known, what immense labor and difficulty it cost Mr. As- 
bury to maintain the non-representative system. The ef- 
fects of his tenacity for the British regime, are still evident 
in more than one place. The genius of the great body of 
the people to whom we have access, is so decidedly repub- 
lican, that we are well persuaded, if the travelling preachers 
had boldly averred in the pulpit, the sentiments contained 
in this brother's essays, the number of their proselytes would 
have been small. It was the show, the appearance of reli- 
gious liberty, connected with the itinerancy, in most new 
places, which attracted public attention. The bold and 
fearless manner in which the lacings of the old establish- 
ment were cut — the liberty of prophecying — of praying ex- 
tempore, and the like, won upon the feelings and attention 
of a people, who were in the habit of walking at large be- 
yond the watchful eye of power. The first Methodist 
preachers did often speak against spiritual tyranny, in the 
middle and southern states where they labored. And when 
they passed into the eastern states, they found religious es- 
tablishments had there survived the revolution. Money 
and power — avarice and ambition in the clergy of those 
establishments, was a welcome theme to many in the pulpit, 
and out of it. The newness of every thing in the west, 
was equivalent to liberty ; thus, in reality, until within these 
few years, with the exceptions alluded to, the travelling 
preachers have been supposed to be relatively favorable to 
liberty. And this relative character in the public opinion, 
has proved one great cause of their popularity and success. 
It would indeed be bringing strange things to the ears of 
our congregations, to proclaim the declarations of "One of 
the Laity," in our pulpits, against representation. Our 
itinerants have prudently forborne to proclaim upon the 
house-tops, their right to absolute government; but, if they 
whisper such things in the closet, let them not be surprised 
to hear others do it for them in public. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 275 

Now, the friends of mutual rights may be few, and the 
great body of the Methodists may believe, that their exclu- 
sion from the law-making department may be, as one 
speaks, the securing of the privileges of thousands ; and 
yet, the principle of representation may be the true one ; 
and nine-tenths of the citizens of the United States believe 
it to be so. Things may settle down into this relative 
state, and if they do, the result will prove very different 
from the relation already described. When all the people 
in this great commonwealth, shall view in every travelling 
preacher an opposer of representation in church legislation ; 
and an asserter of right to absolute government over their 
own converts, who will be converted by them ? Let men 
be taught to believe, that to join the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, is the same as to subject themselves to itinerant 
domination, and will the church increase annually by thou- 
sands, or by tens ? 

But hark ! says "One of the Laity," surely I have touched 
a discordant string. We tell you, brother, you have touch- 
ed a string that will vibrate harsh thunder, unless you can 
untone it, or snap it in two — depend upon it, people will 
not bear to hear of absolute government in this free country ; 
and least of all, will they bear to hear that it is scriptural ? 
no ! they have not so learned Christ. The sons of Co- 
lumbia have not been so catechised. All the good people 
of these United States, except the disciples or advocates of 
certain travelling preachers, think of representation when- 
ever they think of legislation. A word before we conclude, 
upon Dogmata, and Kekrimena, translated, decree, and or- 
dained. It is well known to lexicographers, that in a num- 
ber of instances in the writings of the ancients, they admit 
and even require a free translation. Dogmata is derived 
from doko, I think; and kekrimena, from krino, to judge, 
discern, determine. We are persuaded that the words do 
not imply, that the apostles and elders, considered them- 
selves as a legislative body, or meant to act legislatively \ 
but as arbitrators, or referees ; for the dogmata was sent, 
not to the Jewish, but to the Gentile converts ; not every 
where, but to Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia. Now, our 
elders do not ordain laws for particular persons and 
places, nor do the elders in one place compose a general 
or legislative conference. "My sentence is," says James, 
"that we trouble them not, which, from among the Gentiles, 
are turned unto God." 



276 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

If "One of the Laity," is not convinced by our argu- 
ments, that his premises will not bear him out in his infer- 
ence, we will take it kind, if he will give us his thoughts 
upon "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my 
church," &lc. 

A Friend to Mutual Rights. 



No. 51. 

Mutual Rights, vol. i. April, 1825, p. 331, part 2, p. 376, part 3, p. 401. 
AN ESSAY ON 2 TIM. 1 CH. 7 V. 

tc For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power 
and of love, and of a sound ?nind. ,} 

Some philogers suppose that Declia, from the root of Delios 
translaned in the text by the word fear, the words die and 
dead are derived. And we know from experience, that fear 
can come from, and produce weakness. "God has not 
given us the spirit of fear, but of power ;" that is courage. 
We associate weakness with fear, and strength with cou- 
rage. In children, the body and mind are weak. In adults, 
child-like weakness of mind, or ignorance, may exist, while 
the body is healthy and vigorous. But in all cases, we shall 
find some kind or degree of weakness, wherever we find 
fear. The spirit of fear, that is, fear itself, may be said to 
be given, in the same sense that the effect is said to be given 
with the cause ; or the consequence with its precedent. To 
believers, the gospel does not give causes or precedents 
which necessarily produce fear, or are inevitably followed 
by it. The gospel does not enfeeble either the body or the 
mind. A spirit of fear, may be given, or superinduced, by a 
system of education or government. 

Entire ignorance upon any subject excludes all fear per- 
taining to^ that particular subject ; hence']the maxim, "they 
that know nothing fear nothing." It is partial ignorance, 
or imperfect knowledge, that makes us cowards. This is 
true in regard to superstition. The kind and degree of 
knowledge, imparted and imbibed, produce alarm and ter- 
ror. It may so happen, also, in the afflicting events, which 
befal us in the order of Providence. These kinds of ter- 
rors, as Job calls them ; "the terrors of God make me afraid." 
He could not comprehend the principle of them, nor foresee 
their issue. The knowledge which the gospel imparts, in- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 277 

spires confidence and hope, not doubt and despair. But 
there is a fear of authority, as well as a fear of ignorance or 
limited and partial knowledge, from which the gospel relieves 
us. These two kinds of fear, however they may have been 
associated or confounded, are distinct from each other in 
their origin, and in their nature. An infidel or an atheist, 
who has no belief in the being of God, no kind of religious 
fear, may, nevertheless, be a personal, or a political slave ; 
and tremble before the power of man. And inversely, the 
subjects of the freest governments may be educated in sys- 
tems of dark and desperate superstition. A fear of priests 
and of kings, or of ecclesiastical and civil authority, has 
then no necessary connection with theological or religious 
knowledge, properly so called. And though priest-craft, 
and king-craft, or power, are commonly united under the 
titles of church and state, they may exist independently of 
each other. But, inasmuch as a "Divine right" is the best 
of all rights, when men, under the gospel, seek for a right of 
control or absolute authority over their fellow men, they 
will, of course, be led to rest their claims upon the gospel 
itself. 

It behooves us, therefore, by the most careful and critical 
examination, to ascertain whether God has or has not given 
us the spirit of fear to religious superiors or masters. For 
the consequence is unavoidable, if the ministers of religion 
are made absolute, and not responsible governors, a spirit 
of fear is given to the church ; — for the former must needs 
engender the latter. There can be no error in the proposi- 
tion. When all is given, nothing remains; — or when no- 
thing remains, there can be no farther division. If all 
ecclesiastical power be vested in the ministers of religion, 
they are the heads, the sovereigns of the church ; and the 
church has no power at all. Again, if all ecclesiastical 
power be vested in one of the ministers of religion, none 
remains to be divided among the rest; and one will be the 
head and sovereign of the church, and of the ministers too. 

The points in particular to be inquired into, seem to be 
these : how did Jesus Christ teach his apostles — and how 
did they understand his instructions? Did he teach them 
the principles of a hierarchy — and did they reduce these 
principles to practice ? To answer the first of these inqui- 
ries, we must needs have recourse to the gospels. One of 
the relations which obtained between our Saviour and his 
disciples, was that of teacher and scholars. He reminded 
24 



278 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

them, again and again, of the necessity of learning of him, 
as little children. Their former knowledge was, in no case, 
to prejudice their minds or their dispositions. On the sup- 
position, that all the powers and prerogatives of the ancient 
priesthood were to be transferred to them, no satisfactory 
reason can be assigned, why they were required to be so 
docile to their new teacher. 

But let us hear the master speak — c 'Ye know that the 
princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and 
they that are great, exercise authority among them ; but it 
shall not be so among you. Whosoever will be great among 
you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief 
among you, let him be your servant ; even as the son of 
man came not to be ministered unto; but to minister and 
to give his life a ransom for many." — Matth. xx. 25-28. 
"But do ye not after their works, for they say and do not, 
for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne — but 
they themselves will not move them with one of their fin- 
gers — and love to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi! But be 
ye not called Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and 
ye are all brethren. And neither call any man father upon 
the earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven; neither 
be ye called master, for one is your master, even Christ; but 
he that is greatest among you, shall be your servant." — Mat. 
xxiii. 3-12. " They were disputing among themselves, who 
should be greatest; and he saith unto them, if a man desire 
to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all." — 
Mark ix. 34-36. "And he saith unto them, the kings of 
the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that ex- 
ercise authority upon them, are called benefactors — but he 
that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger ; and 
he that is chief, as he that doth serve." — Luke xxii. 25-26. 

On some of the medals of the ancient kings of Syria, be- 
sides the portraits of the kings themselves, we have on the 
reverse, an archer, sitting on a throne, holding out his bow, 
with the mottos — "king of kings;" u benefactor ;" "just;" 
"illustrious;" " great king." Now it is somewhat remarka- 
ble, that our Lord should have selected from among these 
titles "benefactor" — euergetes. Has this term any relation 
to the Hehrew ? (shadi.) Did the assumption of it convey 
an idea of obligation on the part of the governed ? As, for 
instance, " this right to govern is in us." " We do you a 
favor, in condescending to govern you." Then said our 
Lord, "Ye shall not be called benefactors" — doers of favors 



SNETHENON LAY REPRESENTATION. 279 

— conferers of benefits — any more than masters or fathers. 
Observe how these titles are calculated to inspire fear. 
They would not only be feared as masters, (Kathegetai,) 
Duces vice, leaders of the way, institutors, or Hodegoi, pre- 
ceptors ; but as euergetai, as it were, gods. What cala- 
mities were not to be dreaded, if the benefactors were 
displeased, and should refuse to govern ! — or if their go- 
vernment should be usurped ! Although our Lord says, 
expressly, it shall not be so among you ; yet, is it not most 
commonly so, among hierarchical ministers ? Is it an unu- 
sual thing, to hear dignified ecclesiastics, in a style some- 
what peevish, broadly intimating, that they are conferring 
favors on ungrateful, if not unworthy subjects ? This feel- 
ing is manifest in not a few of the writings of their defend- 
ers and panygerists. What a favor 1 — what, a benefit, that 
such an one should condescend to exercise authority over 
us ! All this would be true, upon the supposition that the 
church has no right except that of being governed. Is this 
meaning included in the phrase "securing the rights of 
thousands" — that is, governing them ! 

We see, then, what our Lord taught his disciples to do, 
and what he forbid them to do. If there was no equality in 
all this, in what language can it be conveyed ? " All ye are 
brethren" — " one is your master, even Christ" — your dux 
vice, leader of the way. We may not, however, trust our 
own judgment, but inquire how the apostles themselves un- 
derstood these instructions. And, first, let us hear Peter 
upon this point: "The elders which are among you, I 
exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the suffer- 
ings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory which shall 
be revealed ; feed the flock of God which is among you, 
taking the oversight, not by constraint, but willingly ; not 
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords 
over God's heritage, but as examples to the flock." — i. Pet. 
v. 1, 2, 3. This Katakurieuontes ton kleron, lording it over 
the heritage, is an echo, as will be perceived, by the texts 
already quoted out of the gospels. Three things seem here 
to be guarded against: 1. Indolence. 2. Avarice. 3. Am- 
bition. The last, in particular, was incompatible with the 
setting of an example to the flock, as appears from the 5th 
verse — " Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be 
clothed with humility." Next let us hear James; "My 
brethren, be not many masters." " My brethren, have not 
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with 



280 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

respect of persons." The rebuke of John to Diotrephes, is 
well known. In what did this man's offence consist? He 
loved to have the preeminence; and his conduct corres- 
ponded to his disposition. We need only quote St. Paul. 
" Not," says he, "that we have dominion over your faith, 
but are helpers of your joy." All this is quite to the pur- 
pose. Can any countervailing passage be found in the New 
Testament? The whole meaning seems to us to be well 
expressed in " God hath not given us the spirit of fear" — 
not given us a hierarchy, or government of preachers, to 
act over us with an uncontrolled dominion. 

No intimation, is any where given, that one or more of 
these twelve apostles, should have dominion over the others; 
and, of course, be feared by them. The passage in John, on 
which certain hierarchists lay so much stress, viz. "Feed 
my sheep," " Feed my lambs," is not rule, govern, command. 
Nor were these sheep and lambs brother shepherds; that is, 
apostles. And as for the saying, " on this rock will I build 
my church," it is clearly explained by the passage which 
speaks of the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Je- 
sus Christ himself, being the chief corner stone. Paul did 
not fear Peter, for God had not given to St. Peter the supre- 
macy over the rest of the apostles. Hence Paul withstood 
him to his face. The very circumstance, of the equality of 
the twelve apostles, ought to put all controversy at rest, re- 
specting the existence of a primitive heirarchy. These men 
were not only ail equal among themselves, as witnesses of 
the resurrection, but as planters of churches, and doctrinal 
teachers ; and whatever may have been their governing 
powers, these also they held in common, and not one over 
another. It is no uncommon thing, for episcopal writers 
to talk about him who presided, when the apostles met. 
Some of them suppose, that James presided at Jerusalem, 
&/C Was James then the senior bishop, or the arch-bish- 
op, or the patriarch, or the pope ? How did he get into the 
chair? Did he take it of right, or was he elected? In a 
certain conference, James, and Cephas, and John, seemed 
to be pillars. But it made no matter to Paul. And indeed 
they gave him the right hand of apostolical fellowship. 
Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, magnified his office; 
that is, maintained his equality. Can any thing be more 
plain, than that twelve men could not act executively, or 
manage an individual sovereignty, as the head of the church, 
upon hierarchical principles ? And is it not equally plain, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 281 

that our Saviour did not depute any one of them directly 
and by name to this office ? And that they did not do it in- 
directly among themselves? "When," says Paul, "they 
saw, that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed 
to me, as of the circumcision unto Peter, for he that wrought 
effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, 
the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles. And when 
James, Cephas, (Peter,) and John, who seemed to be pillars, 
perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to 
me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should 
go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." And 
yet this very Peter is made to be the exclusive head of the 
church. Verily ! he must have obtained this commission 
after this conference. For neither he, nor James, nor John, 
nor Paul, nor Barnabas, nor any body else, had any know- 
ledge of it then. He was to go, continue to go unto the 
circumcision,, not alone, but in company. They unto the 
uncircumcision. Paul never contended for precedency, but 
equality. "I am not a whit behind the very chief of tho 
apostles." This was not boasting. It was not usurpation. 
For there was no hierarchy in this fraternity. Peter was to 
be blamed, because he refused to eat with the Gentiles. It 
was well for the church, on this occasion, that he was not 
pope, head of the church. For this practice could not 
have been withstood. But as they were all brethren, autho- 
rity could not get the better of reason. The paroxysm, 
which led to the separation of Paul and Barnabas, might be 
quoted as another example, of the liberty and equality 
which reigned in this primitive family of gospel ministers. 
But no where in the New Testament, is the absence of the 
hierarchical principle more manifest, than in the epistles to 
Timothy and to Titus. Epistles so often quoted, and in- 
deed, so constantly relied upon by all parties. We should 
bear in mind, that these men are called sons ; and that their 
title of office is evangelists. But with the single exception 
of bearing witness to the resurrection, and writing scripture, 
their powers seem to be almost as plenary as those of the 
apostles themselves. Not one word, not even an allusion 
occurs, in these interesting letters, to any thing like a supre- 
macy. And this is the more remarkable, as in after times, 
pastoral letters abounded in this kind of matter. The 
writer of the book of Revelation, is also equally silent re- 
specting this modern rock of the church's salvation. The 
last, the dying letter of St. Paul, and the revelation which 
24* 



£82 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Jesus Christ shewed unto his servant John, say not one 
word about the supremacy of Simon, whose surname was 
Peter; nor precedency and succession apostolic; though, 
taking all things into consideration, these seem to have 
been fair occasions. If we admit the existence of Peter's 
preeminence, how can Timothy and Titus be justified in 
taking their instructions from Paul, and executing their 
ministry in the church, without any reference to the vicege- 
rent of Jesus Christ upon earth ? 

Let any man make himself acquainted with the apparatus 
of those civil and religious governments, under which the 
spirit of fear prevails, and having carefully read over the 
New Testament, let him ask himself, if he finds any of 
those fear inspiring agents and instruments there. It has 
been well said, that the dominion of man over man, is 
founded in opinion, not in nature. And the most super- 
ficial observation of artificial governments, must convince 
any one, of this. To produce military subordination, how 
much discipline, and how many means are necessary. But 
military discipline itself, is not sufficient for the purposes of 
civil government. In order to give this its effect, children 
must be educated from the cradle, and all the pageantry of 
courts be displayed. Instead of these, the gospel exhibits 
a pure example of the government of principle. The few 
insulated passages, which have been tortured, in order to 
make them speak in terms conformable to a government of 
men, instead of principle, if left alone, without the super- 
addition of abundance of human legislation, would be found 
to be utterly inadequate to this end. This is the reason why 
all hierarchists plead so strenuously, in behalf of their own 
enactments, as of equal authority with the scripture. If as 
much fear as commonly operates in monarchical govern- 
ments, had been necessary to the apostolic government, its 
authority could not have been maintained for a day. Hence 
our Saviour said, it shall not be so among you. As an in- 
stance, we need only quote the case of the two sons of 
Zebedee and their mother, when they made application for 
the first honors; "When the ten heard it," says the evan- 
gelist, "they had indignation." U it had been really the 
intention of the master, to have made any one or more of 
the disciples supreme over the rest, what teaching and cau- 
tion, and warning, and even threatening, would have been 
necessary ! But instead of this, he checks their first aspira- 
tions, and reminds them, that they are all brethren. It may 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 283 

be no difficult matter, to find men to take the sovereignty, 
under a new system ; but not so easy to produce the spirit 
of obedience. Our Saviour had endeared himself unto the 
eleven. The time when he was about to be taken from 
them, would have been the most fit to fix upon a successor, 
if he meant to leave one. Yet not one of them is named. 
"I go away, but I will send you another comforter, even the 
spirit of truth, who shall abide with you for ever. Now, I 
go my way, to him that sent me, and none of you askethme, 
whither goest thou ? But because I have said these things, 
sorrow hath filled your hearts; nevertheless, I tell you the 
truth, it is expedient for you, that I go away; for if I go 
not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I 
depart, I will send him to you." The same leading object 
is kept in view, respecting the pentecost. Instead of point- 
ing out a successor, and training the rest to habits of sub- 
ordination to his authority, he directs them to tarry at 
Jerusalem, until they should be endued with power from 
on high. When the day of pentecost was fully come, they 
were all together in one place, with one accord, and they 
were all filled with the Holy Ghost. No two systems can 
be more distinct, than this is from an hierarchy. When 
the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, he sent the 
comforter, the spirit of truth, to supply the place of his 
personal presence; but left no one of his disciples to oc- 
cupy his place, and to govern the rest. All his offices are 
perpetual and unchangeable, and, of course, cannot be held 
or represented in this world, by a succession of mortal men. 
To keep up a succession of human heads over the church, 
a spirit of fear must be kept up in the church. Why these 
names, these titles, these offices, these powers and prerog- 
atives ? Not surely to inspire love, but fear. 'His Holiness,' 
'His Eminence,' 'The most reverend father in God,' 'The 
right reverend,' and 'His grace the Lord Bishop,' &c. &c, 
are calculated to fill the mind with awe; and appearances 
are made to correspond to the sounds, to make the effect 
more complete. The tripple crown, the pontifical robes, 
the splendor and the show produce their full measure to this 
illusion. And if any one has temerity enough to touch the 
tinsel, he will find beneath this gaudy covering, offensive 
and defensive armor, in quantity and kind, sufficient to 
convince him that it is not with phantoms that he has to do. 
An hierarchy gives us the spirit of fear, for it is really a most 
fearful power. It carries terror and consternation to the 



284 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

very heart. Our Saviour's precepts and examples correspond, 
in proving, that he did not mean to raise up a spirit of mas- 
tery in the ministry. He not only assures them, that he came 
not to be ministered unto, but to minister. He also tells 
them, that henceforth he will not call them servants; and 
his reason for doing so. A servant knoweth not what his 
lord doeth ; but 1 have called you friends. For all things 
that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto 
you. Add to this, the new commandment — A new com- 
mandment I give unto you, that ye should love one another. 
Not that one should fear another. "God hath not given us 
the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound 
mind." 

PART II. 

St. Paul, says expressly, that God has not given us the 
spirit of fear; and in this the enemies and opposers of the 
gospel, are at issue with him. They say that he has given 
us the spirit of fear, if they could prove, that the gospel 
establishes and perpetuates a spirit of servility in the hearts 
of its believers, it would amount to a most formidable ob- 
jection indeed. The well known fact, that our Lord chose 
twelve apostles, has already been noticed ; and some pains 
have been taken, to shew, that they lelt and acted towards 
each other, as equals, without fear or submission. Now it 
is worthy of remark, that hierarchists, in order to make out 
a primitive model, have found it necessary to assume and 
to attempt to prove, that one of these apostles was appoint- 
ed by the Lord himself, to be their head and chief; and that 
he and his successors were intended to be the fountain 
of all ministerial and ecclesiastical power, to the end of 
time. It has been argued, that Peter became possessed of 
this supremacy, together with the keys and the surname, 
rock. His first and proper name was Simon; Simion. 
Blessed art thou Simon, son of Jonas ; — literally hearer, or 
listener; — son of Dove. For flesh and blood hath not re- 
vealed this unto thee, but my father who is in heaven ; and 
I say unto thee, thou art (surnamed) Petros, (rock,) and 
upon this rock (surname) will I build my church ; not give 
thee perpetual precedence over thy brethren ; nor to thy 
particular successors, a supremacy in power over all minis- 
ters. I will build my church upon this answer of thine, 
from which thou art surnamed. That this was the meaning 
which the sacred writers affixed to the words "thou art 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 285 

Peter," admits of no dispute, as we have their own express 
word for it. "Simon, called Peter ; Matt. iv. 18. Simon, 
he surnamed Peter; Mark iii. 16. He chose Simon whom 
he also named Peter; Luke vi. 14. Jesus saith to Simon 
Peter, Simon son of Jonas ; John xxi. 15. Send to Joppa, 
and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter; Acts x. 
5." &lc. The nature of Simon was not changed into a 
rock. His name itself was not changed. But another 
name was added to it; and that was a name of truth and 
not of office. What did Simon do to obtain this name ? 
He answered our Lord's question, "but whom do ye say 
that I am ?" by saying "thou art Christ, the son of the liv- 
ing God." This was a truth, not a government, or autho- 
rity to govern. And on this rock, (truth,) rock-like truth, 
foundation, foundation-truth, will I build my church. The 
church is built upon a foundation, not upon the power of 
its ministers. The foundation of God standeth sure ; the 
Lord knoweth them that are his : and let every one that 
nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity. The 
same truth was revealed to all the apostles ; not by flesh 
and blood, but by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Hence the church, composed of Gentiles as well as Jews, 
is said to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself, being the chief corner stone. 
So also in the Revelations; "And the walls of the city had 
twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve 
apostles of the Lamb." 

To say, that the gates of hell should not prevail against 
the church, because Peter was pope, seems to us, to be 
quite a distinct thing, from saying that they should not pre- 
vail, because it was built on Peter's answer, which could 
have no manner of connection with any thing else, but the 
question, "Whom do men say that 1 am?" Not "Whom 
do men say shall govern the church ; be its head upon 
earth, or its chief minister ?" How strange, that men 
should associate the idea of a rock, or a foundation with 
the government, or the administration of the government 
of the church ! Can two things be more distinct in nature 
or in name ? Taking the idea of the head of the church 
in its most enlarged acceptation, as applied to the sovereign 
pontiff or pope, it differs essentially from the foundation. 
Catholics, themselves, are not taught to say, I believe in 
the pope, in the same sense that they are to say, I believe 
in Jesus Christ. No doctor will teach the people in the 



%36 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 

same acceptation, as Paul did the jailer. Believe in the 
pope, and thou shalt he saved. It is much to be regretted, 
that not a few of the Protestants, and of the denominations 
which have sprung from the Protestants, have shewn so 
great a propensity, to make the power of ministers of the 
gospel to govern the church, that is, legislate its laws, as 
well as execute them, a foundation-truth. The loosing and 
binding power was not given exclusively to Peter, as is evi- 
dent from John xx. 22, 23. "He breathed on them, and 
saith, receive the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, 
they are remitted, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are 
retained." We have no evidence in the New Testament, 
that either Peter or any of the apostles, understood our 
Lord to mean any thing essentially dilferent from writing 
and preaching the gospel. They proclaimed and offered 
the pardon of sin and all spiritual benefits, through faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ ; and threatened unbelievers with 
final condemnation. 

On the subject of the keys, we cannot do better than to 
quote Dr. G. Campbell. "Put as Peter's zeal had led him 
to be as it were, the mouth, in making this profession to 
his master, Christ, after the effusion of the Spirit, he honored 
him to be their mouth also, in first preaching this doctrine 
and giving testimony for him to the Jews, and afterward 
by the special call of God, to the Gentiles. It is thus, the 
apostle himself speaks of it: — 'Brethren, ye know how 
that God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my 
mouth, should hear the word of the Gospel.' This is call- 
ed, in another place, 'opening the door of faith to the 
Gentiles ; and affords a natural exposition of Christ's de- 
claration to Peter, I give thee the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven. Yet even here, there is nothing peculiar given 
to Peter; but merely that he should be honored, to be the 
first in the conversion of the Gentiles. Afterwards, Paul 
was incomparably more eminent than he." As Peter was 
the first to preach the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, with 
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and the door of 
repentance and faith was thus opened and has not been 
since shut, and never will be again shut, until the final 
judgment, these keys can be of no farther use in the hands 
of Peter's supposed successors. He opened that kingdom 
of God, or of heaven, which was at hand. Those who 
were present with him at the house of Cornelius, though 
they were Jews, acknowledged, that upon the Gentiles also, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 287 

was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. And those who 
heard Peter relate the facts, glorified God, that to the Gen- 
tiles he had granted repentance unto life. 

Certainly, Peter was greatly honored at the Pentecost, 
and on this occasion. But though the angel directed Cor- 
nelius to send for him, to tell him words whereby he should 
be saved, yet he and his brethren were contented, that he 
should be chiefly distinguished as the apostle oi the cir- 
cumcision. 

After all the passages which have been referred to, in 
support of St. Peter's supremacy have been collected, let 
them be compared or rather contrasted with the claims of 
Judah, to the precedency among the sons of Jacob. In 
the case of Judah, every thing was express and literal. In 
the case of Peter, all is implied or inferred. The pre-emi- 
nence of Judah was acknowledged of all. Peter was al- 
ways treated like a brother, and an equal, and he aspired to 
no higher distinction. Peter indeed, as we have seen, said 
and did some things, first, in the order of time. But he 
said and did nothing exclusively, or in virtue of a special 
office. Paul labored more abundantly than they all. Now 
will not those who practice upon the principle of ministe- 
rial supremacy, and yet argue, that God did not give the 
apostles and primitive ministers, a spirit of fear, render 
themselves liable to be condemned out of their own mouths ? 
Why so much fear and jealousy on their part, lest their 
power may be checked and controlled ? Why so many 
means and measures to make their power known, to make 
the spirit of fear the ruling influence, in the hearts of those 
they govern ? Why this ascending and descending scale 
of offices ? And why the immeasurable distance between 
the higher and lower stations ? There is no other way to 
vindicate the gospel against the charge of producing a 
servile spirit, except by admitting the equality of the apos- 
tles in office ; and of course, that those who have taken to 
themselves the title of their successors, have departed from 
the scriptural example. 

A spirit of servile fear, is nearly allied to that fear ofraan, 
which bringeth a snare ; and while it debilitates the under- 
standing, renders the feelings more or less ignoble. How 
degrading to human nature, is the progress to office and 
power, through fawning and flattery, and the haughty airs 
each of these flatterers in turn assumes, when he gains the 
object of his pursuit? If it shall be assumed as possible, 



28S SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

that a ministerial government can be perpetuated, without 
generating a spirit of fear, the fact might be opposed to this 
assumption, that there is in the hearts of all men, a natural 
love of liberty, which must be extinguished by a servile 
course of education, or overawed and broken down by the 
terrors of power. Even among those who have been long 
schooled to non-resistance and passive obedience, a prone- 
ness to self-control, will occasionally manifest itself. The 
history of all hierarchies proves, that education alone is sel- 
dom trusted to. Among those who through successive gene- 
rations, have been taught to view the ministers of religion 
as being to them in God's stead, all the functionaries of 
power are kept in constant exercise ; no old laws grow ob- 
solete, and none of their forms fall into disuse. The sword 
is never suffered to grow rusty in the scabbard, or the shield 
to lose its lustre. All the pageantry of power, all its glitter- 
ing ensigns, are displayed to dazzle, to allure, or to con- 
found. The final object is, not to produce rational liberty, 
not to form men to habits of subordination to a government 
of laws, instead of passions, but to cause every knee to 
bow, in absolute submission, and every tongue to confess, 
implicit obedience. With the agents of this polity, there 
can be no negotiation, no treaties formed. The maxim is, — 
all or nothing. Between man and man, there may be some 
compromise. But not between man and God's vicegerents. 
The rulers of the kingdoms of this world, may relent and 
sometimes do. Almost all civil tyrants, are occasionally 
seized with fits of clemency or generosity ; but those, who 
feel empowed to act for God on earth, have no discretionary 
powers. In their countenances, the stern features of au- 
thority never relax, while a spark of liberty remains unex- 
tinguished, in the breasts of those with whom they have to 
do. The destructive and exterminating religious wars, 
which have raged so long and so widely, are to be traced 
to this assumed power in ecclesiastics, to subdue, but not to 
stipulate. The enemy is not to be treated with while arms 
are in his hands. His submission can be accepted only 
from his knees. Whoever will read the history of the go- 
vernments of the professed ministers of the gospel, and 
suffer himself to reason and reflect, need only to inspect a 
form of this kind of polity, to foretell with almost unerring 
certainty, how it will operate, whether by fear or otherwise. 
All systems which require absolute submission, do violence 
to human nature, and can only be maintained by a spirit of 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 289 

fear ; — the fear of ignorance and the fear of force combined. 
The education and instruction of the great mass of the peo- 
ple are neglected, and learning is made a kind of mystery 
or political secret, into which none but favorites are initiated. 
All that is communicated to the governed, is intended to 
convince them of their own ignorance and weakness, and 
the wisdom and strength of their superiors. 

There was a time, when all Europe was under the domin- 
ion of one great hierarchy. The world then witnessed, and 
wondered at the unbounded avarice and ambition of priests. 
Then emperors and kings trembled and prostrated them- 
selves, before the triple crown. Then, indeed, was the 
spirit of fear given to purpose. That was an iron age and 
a reign of tenor ; and that terror has been perpetuated and 
realized, in every country, where kings have allowed an in- 
quisition : — but God hath not given us the spirit of fear. 

Nations have been terrified and rendered abject by the 
teachers of the gospel ; and yet, grief to speak it ! re- 
formers with all these humiliating facts before their eyes, 
have had recourse to this carnal policy, and employed these 
carnal weapons. We are anxious to vindicate the gospel 
from all part and lot in this matter. No, this is not the 
spirit of God's children. God gave not this spirit. It came 
not from above. It proceeded not from the Father of lights. 
It was unknown among the apostles and the first christians. 
The New Testament involved none of these consequences. 
Its divine and gracious author, who knew what was in man, 
for he knew the hearts of all men, did not mean to abstract 
all power from the many, to give it unto one, or the few. 
He did not allow this fatal germ of domination, "who shall 
be the greatest" to grow up among his disciples ; but pluck- 
ed it up by the roots. He set them no example of an hier- 
archy ; — taught them none of its maxims. Love, not fear, 
was to be the principle of their government. 

But as men now, and in this country more than in any 
former age or country, must be governed by opinion, it be- 
hooves us to discuss the question of St. Peter's supremacy 
more fully, before we conclude this part of our discourse. 
We shall therefore resume the consideration of the rock and 
the keys. Admitting, that the name and the things were 
given to Simon, how were they given ? In fee simple, to 
him and his heirs for ever ? Or as in cases of corporations 
sole ; to him and his successors ? It is a maxim in English 
law, that if a grant be made to a bishop, or abbot, or parson, 
25 



290 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

without any mention of successors, it is only a grant for 
life. But if it be made to a corporation aggregate, as to a 
dean and chapter, successors need not be mentioned. Now 
according to this distinction, the grant was made to Peter 
as a corporation sole, for the grant was not made to Peter 
and the Apostles as a corporation aggregate ; his successors 
ought therefore to have been mentioned in the grant. Oth- 
erwise, it was only a grant to Peter for life. But the things 
here granted, are not things to be used in succession. On 
this rock I will build my church ; taking the word rock in the 
sense of a foundation, it must imply something to be done 
at once ; and not in continuation, like a government. To 
prove this, we have only to refer to the third chapter of first 
Corinthians, where we find that that church was divided 
into parties ; one party saying "I am of Paul," and another, 
"I am of Apollos." "Who then," says the writer, "is Paul, 
or who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed?" 
&/C. "According to the grace of God which is given unto 
me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and 
another buildeth thereon. But better every man take heed 
how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no 
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." This pas- 
sage is made sufficiently plain, by referring to Romans xv. 
20. "Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not 
where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another 
man's foundation." Not a word occurs in these memora- 
ble passages, about Peter. The reason is manifest. The 
name of Christ was the rock, Simon was only surnamed 
Peter. But he had the grant of the keys of the kingdom 
of heaven. True he had, though not to his successors. 
These keys were employed to open, not to shut; to unlock, 
not to re-lock. This dispensation was to be the last ; not, 
like the law, to be closed in order to make way for another. 
The strange notion, that Peter was endued with the power 
of suspending or withholding the gospel, by an interdict, 
after the manner of his supposed successors, has no shadow 
of warrant either from the text or any part of the scripture. 
The writers of the l^ew Testament did not write it in order 
to keep it out of the hands of the common people. They 
gave no threatenings against any one who should read. 
And, therefore, nobody was afraid to read it. It stood pre- 
cisely in this respect, on the same ground as the law or the 
Old Testament. The things contained in it were revealed, 
and therefore belong unto us and to our children. They 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 291 

were not the secret things that belong unto the Lord our 
God; or exclusively to his ministers. This gospel of the 
kingdom, must be preached to every creature under heaven. 
And I, says Paul, am made one of its ministers, and wo is 
me if I preach not the gospel ; — if I lock it up ; — if I take 
away this key of knowledge. It only remains, that we no- 
tice Ephesians iv. 11. "And he gave some apostles, some 
prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. We 
have been taught to accept this passage as proof, that God 
hath appointed and ordained divers orders of ministers in 
his church ; as though they all existed contemporaneously 
and in gradation, one above another. But will the text bear 
this construction ? We think not. The words translated 
some, commonly mean part, and so they are rendered in the 
parable of the sower. Matthew xiii. And some brought 
forth an hundred, and some sixty, and some thirty. That 
is, some part of the seed sown, a part brought forth — and 
another part, &c. And he gave apostles to a part of the 
church ; — to a part prophets; — to a part evangelists ; — to a 
part pastors and teachers : that is. to some portions and pe- 
riods of the church, one ; and to other portions and periods, 
another. 

It should be noticed, that only pastors and teachers are 
joined together by the conjunction and. These two only 
are of necessity contemporaneous. The others may be so 
accidentally. This partitive sense of the Greek words, sous, 
men, and sous de, is noticed in the Greek Grammar, and 
the example given is, men are partly good and partly bad. 

To conclude, we have seen that the first disciples in the 
school of the Great Teacher, were not educated in, or 
taught, the principle of servility. Their judgments and 
hearts were not degraded with awful notions of human 
headship or supremacy among themselves. On this exam- 
ple of education, we are disposed to lay the greatest stress. 
For as far as we know, it has not been exactly imitated, in 
any system of ministerial or religious education. No cate- 
chism or part of a catechism has been modelled upon it. 
Even under the congregational forms and democratical go- 
vernments, we suspect, that the subject of ministerial power 
in the church, has not been reduced to its simplest elements, 
so as to become perfectly easy and familiar to the common 
people. Experience and observation incline us more and 
more to believe, that the only way to rescue the ministerial 
character from contempt, is, to disengage it from all super- 



292 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

stitious reverence. In flattery, there is always deception, 
both in the minds of those who give, and those who receive 
it: and this blind and weak side, will be readily detected by 
an enemy. Our children should be educated to respect 
good men, and men in office; but not to fear them. If the 
Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. God hath 
not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, 
and of a sound mind. 

PART III. 
In our two former numbers, we labored, and we trust not 
wholly in vain, to prove, that the gospel, whether considered 
as a system of government or of education, is not produc- 
tive of a servile spirit. We shall now direct our attention 
to the second acceptation of the spirit of fear, viz. super- 
stitious, or excessive, or erroneous religious fear. Almost 
all the writers of antiquity, who by modern courtesy con- 
tinue to be called philosophers, and most of the christians 
who aim, in some degree, to copy their cast of thought, as 
well as professed infidels, indulge in censure and sarcasm 
against religious fears. One of the great causes of ancient 
superstition evidently was, the dark uncertainty in which all 
religion was involved. Life and immortality were not then 
fully brought out into the light. The knowledge of certain 
religious facts and truths, had been preserved to them through 
tradition. Out of these detached and imperfect fragments, 
their systems were fabricated by the aid of imagination. 
Accordingly we find, that almost all the ancient systems of 
mythology may be traced to the poets, beyond whose time 
we can find neither history nor record. It was, perhaps, 
well intended in more advanced periods of knowledge to 
make philosophy bear upon religion, and thus to take it 
from under the dominion of the imagination. In one, if 
not more of the schools, which attempted to reduce religion 
to science, atheism prevailed. The superficial vails, and 
the disguises of the poets, were easily seen through ; and 
traditions, without the aid of record, could furnish no evi- 
dence worthy the attention of philosophers. Searching 
through such a medium, and with such data, it was matter 
of course, that they could not find out God. And the pro- 
cess of "tracing nature up to nature's God," now supposed 
to be easy, could not have been expected of men who 
sought to find the eternal mind in matter alone. Unsuc- 
cessful in all their supposed rational researches, they laid it 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 293 

down as an axiom, that "fear made the first gods." But to 
this conclusion we oppose the maxim, "they who know 
nothing, fear nothing." All nations appear to have had 
some knowledge of God ; though it is only in one instance 
that this kind of knowledge can be traced historically to a. 
proper source. The bible tells us, that God made himself 
known to the first man; and, that he did this, in virtue of 
having impressed on his mind so much resemblance to his 
own, as to render him capable of receiving such commu- 
nications. 

Now in those schools, which endeavored to engraft sci- 
ence upon the mythology of the poets, in order to give it 
the greater effect, as an instrument of government, the 
darkness was left sufficiently visible to give full scope for 
the terrors of the imagination. Pythagoras and Plato, and 
even Socrates himself, may be said to have given the spirit 
of fear, in so far, as they sanctioned the corrupted traditions, 
and the fables of the poets. Ignorance, or imperfect know- 
ledge, pervaded the mind upon those very points, the know- 
ledge of which, alone, can dissipate fear and inspire confi- 
dence. This kind of knowledge, and the fear consequent 
upon it, were, as far as the purposes of government might 
be concerned, rather to be encouraged and confirmed than 
corrected. Of what avail, for instance, would oracles, and 
other institutions, have been in the hands of politicians, if 
the meridian light of religious truth, had shone upon the 
rational mind ? The mysteries and all the awful process of 
initiation into their arcana prove, of how much importance 
fear was in the ancient systems of religion and government. 
We have no doubt, that a considerable degree of supersti- 
tious fear was necessary to those governments ; and to those 
also of modern times, which bear a resemblance to them. 
In fact, the atheists among the Greeks did incalculable in- 
jury to the morals of society, by destroying that kind of 
fear of the Gods, which the framers and ministrators of the 
government intended to act as restraints upon the passions 
and appetites of the people ; and by supplying nothing in 
its place. Among a people, whose religion is half super- 
stition, and whose science leads to atheism, the moral re- 
straints upon the passions, must needs be weak and unsteady. 
The atheists might say, indeed, we give not the spirit of fear; 
but could not add — but of power, and of love, and of a 
sound mind. Superstitious fear, like servile fear, weakens 
the faculties, and hence it is found to supply a feeble agency 
26* 



294 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

for the active virtues ; and the passions and appetites re-act 
with increased violence, when the restraining terror ceases 
to be felt. Most of the ancient sages had a pretty correct 
notion of the necessity of a higher and more potent motive 
than fear, as essential to the practice of virtue. Upon this 
subject, however, they could do little more than speculate. 
For though they might see the necessity of the case, they 
had neither principles nor mea*,o to accomplish their pur- 
poses. Whenever, therefore, they resorted to practice, like 
all other men, they could only use the means they had; — 
not those they felt the want of: much less, those of which 
they were quite ignorant. In the characters and attributes 
of the celestial deities of the heathen, there was little to 
animate the heart with a steady affection. Love to the 
gods, among the best of them, could not have exceeded 
their knowledge of the lovely and merciful part of their 
nature. And the number of objects among which their 
love was divided, Laterally tended to weaken it. The 
effects of unity and division in the objects of our love and 
fear, are the reverse of each other. Love is increased by 
unity in the subject to be loved, and fear by a plurality of 
terrible objects. The love of the ancient polytheists to their 
gods, approached, by its generality, to what is called the 
love of benevolence, rather than that of a child to a parent. 
In addition to this, we may notice the unhappy effect upon 
their love and their fear, which the mixture of physical 
attributes in these supposed deities were calculated to 
produce. In the purest attachments to such a being, a de- 
gree of carnal or physical affection was almost unavoidable. 
How, for instance, could the line of distinction be drawn 
between the spiritual and the natural, in the heart, when no 
such line could be recognized in the object loved ? But the 
effect of this composition of passion with devotion, while 
it diminishes love, increases fear. Of this, the writings of 
the ancients abound with examples. Our Saviour refers to 
it: "After all these things do the Gentiles seek;" (to their 
goddess Fortune.) 

Next to superstitious fear, as thus exemplified in the 
idolators, we may notice enthusiastic fear, to which we have 
already made some allusion. This kind or mode of fear, is 
supposed to be produced by what is called enthusiastic 
preaching. The fear of hell and future punishment. And 
within a century past, this has been considered as one of 
the evils of enforcing experimental religion. It is chiefly 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 295 

on account of this association, that we deem it of particular 
importance, to bring it under investigation. The fear of 
penitents, is to be considered as preparatory to the gospel, 
rather than as a consequence of it. Let the case be stated 
thus: of two kinds of preaching, viz. one which asserts, 
and the other denies the knowledge of salvation through 
the remission of sins. Which is the most calculated to 
give the spirit of fear? We can come to the conclusion by 
a short and direct process. All the parties to the question 
will readily acknowledge themselves to be sinners. But 
this acknowledgment cannot be made under a consciousness 
of guilt and a doubt of pardon, without fear. Every guilty 
man is afraid of the law ; every unpardoned criminal is afraid 
of punishment. If the gospel holds out no knowledge or 
assurance of pardon, it leaves all under the spirit of fear. 
Why is one professor of religion afraid to die, and another 
willing, and even desirous to depart and be with Christ? 
One of the objects of the gospel is, to deliver those who all 
their life time, through fear of death, were subject to bond- 
age. The most destructive doctrine of the gospel is assu- 
rance. Those who deny this doctrine, are mostly consistent 
with themselves. They do not affect to conceal the fact, 
that their fear produces doubts. Their only shelter and 
consolation is, the universality of their case. They have 
fears to be sure, but they tell us, the best of men are not 
without them ; as the gospel furnishes no remedy for them. 
Is not this saying in effect, that the gospel shews us our 
danger, but not our remedy? Or in other words leaves us in 
a state of imperfect knowledge upon this important point? 
It is extraordinary, that those who teach a plan of salvation, 
which secures to the believer an experimental knowledge of 
the pardon of sin, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
should have the spirit of fear urged against their system, as 
one of its most pernicious consequences, by men who make 
their doubts and fears, a kind of duty and virtue, a proof 
and test as it were, that they are good christians. The be- 
lievers to whom the Epistle to the Romans was written, had 
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but the 
spirit of adoption, whereby they could cry Abba father. 
The Spirit bore witness with their spirit, that they were the 
children of God. Paul knew in whom he had believed, and 
was persuaded of his ability to save his soul. St. John's 
believers, had the witness in themselves. The light of the 
gospel, is the great light; the light of the glory of God 



296 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

shining in the face of Jesus Christ. He who follows this 
Saviour, does not walk in darkness ; for he has the light of 
life. Every thing in the gospel bespeaks assurance. The 
abundance of the love proclaimed — the unparalleled evi- 
dence of it — the rich effusion of grace, and all the precious 
and exceeding great promises, authorise this conclusion. 
"God hath not given the spirit of fear." 

But we must hasten on to the positive parts of our sub- 
ject. Fear and courage have a reference to inanimate, as 
well as animate subjects ; or rather to things as well as 
persons. So we say, men are afraid of labor, and of dan- 
gers, as well as of enemies. And we suppose, power im- 
plies courage, that is moral and intellectual strength. There 
are three causes of power, fortitude or energy, under the 
excitement of which, mankind most commonly act, which 
the Apostle seems to exclude from the gospel, by saying, 
that it gives us the spirit of love and a sound mind, viz. 
self-love, hatred, and intoxication, or the selfish affections, 
the malevolent passions, and a drunken or mad state of 
mind. If he had said, God hath given us the spirit of self- 
love — the spirit of hatred and revenge — and the spirit of 
intoxication, none of the princes of this world, would have 
had any difficulty in understanding him. The art by which 
those men govern the human race, is the same in all ages 
and countries. They begin by making themselves to be 
feared ; but men in a mere state of servility, have no cou- 
rage. They cannot fight. When, therefore they want to 
use their servile dependents for defence or conquest, they 
inspire them with hatred to their enemies, and madden their 
brains by ambition or alcohol. These mortal gods of the 
earth, can form no idea of a race of heroic and vigorous 
subjects, without servile or superstitious fear, animated with 
an ardent love to the human race, and quite sober minded, 
self collected and rational. In our own country, we have 
a striking example of the truth of our theory. Why can 
we make no military use of our colored slaves ? Why are 
we afraid to trust arms in their hands ? Not surely, because 
they fear their masters more than any other slaves, or because 
their bondage is harder; for this is not the fact. They are 
not punished for disobedience as severely as soldiers; nor 
shot for running away, as soldiers are for desertion. The 
reason is, we have no enemy against whom we can rouse 
their vindictive and revengeful passions; and thus to mad- 
den their minds without these passions, they will be timid 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 297 

and cowardly, and with them our own safety might be en- 
dangered. If God hath given to the ministers and members 
of the christian church, the spirit of love, and of a sound 
or sober mind, and they are, nevertheless, strong and cou- 
rageous, is it not plain, that his kingdom is not of this 
world? In the freest republics, not excepting our own, can 
men be governed by benevolence and intelligence alone? 
Can an American statesman get on, and maintain his pop- 
ularity, without great skill in the management of the selfish 
and irrascible feelings ? Will it not be well if he stops here, 
and does not find, or thinks he finds it necessary, to influ- 
ence the rational feelings, and intoxicate the rational mind 
with the images of war. 

A truly scriptural education and government, as well as 
experience, tend to produce love and benevolence, and a 
healthy and vigorous state of mind. God hath given us 
the spirit of love. He hath taught us in a way that we are 
no where else taught ; that he hath made of one blood all 
the nations of the earth; that he is loving to every man, 
and his tender mercies are over all his works. He hath 
given most unexampled demonstration of his love to the 
world, the universe of his creatures, in the gift of his only 
begotten Son. It is in the gospel chiefly, that we learn the 
true relation of man to man, and our obligation to love 
every creature whom God hath made in the common like- 
ness to himself and to one another. And this is the only 
true foundation of universal benevolence, the only consi- 
deration which can sustain in our hearts, a feeling of hu- 
manity, under the various, and almost innumerable tempta- 
tions to make personal and rational exceptions to the ob- 
jects of its exercise. This spirit of love enables us to 
struggle successfully against irrascible emotions and malevo- 
lent propensities. Few men hate forever; and among 
those that do, who hates every body ? It is the enlarged 
and steady feelings of good will to man, which is so rare 
among good men ; and still more rarely imbibed in princi- 
ples like our mother's milk, is the first food of nature. 

But a system of religious education should give us a 
sound mind, as well as a warm heart. The history of all 
nations, and of all individuals, shows how much soundness 
of mind depends upon education. All infant and unin- 
structed minds, are naturally weak, and their first concep- 
tions imperfect or erroneous: and a bad education una- 
voidably tends to confirm or aggravate these evils. We 



298 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

do not mean to be understood to say, that education alone, 
can make us christians. But we do say, that the scriptures 
abound with truth and facts, which may be derived into the 
mind by education, in a way at once calculated to improve 
the head and mend the heart. 

With these principles, will it not be possible to analyze 
any religious system of ancient or modern times, and to 
demonstrate its nature and tendency ? The common man- 
ner among the professors and advocates of different sys- 
tems, really amounts to nothing more than self-praise or 
self-flattery, and comes to the same end. Everyman's opi- 
nions, himself being judge, are the best. This is evidently 
for the want of or the rejection of the proper data or crite- 
rion.* Take as an example, the propagation of religion 
by the sword. Do not those, who are found following in 
the wake of religious conquerors evince, that the sword 
gives the spirit of fear, and of course is an improper in- 
strument of conversion ? Let the gospel be considered as 
a book, and is there any piece of religious composition of 
a less terrifying character ? Let it be considered in regard 
to its first ministers, or its first propagation ; and shall we 
not realize the justness of the comparison, of sheep among 
wolves ? No Musselman affects to conceal or blushes to 
own the victories by which the mission of his prophet is 
demonstrated ; but the rapidity and extent of those con- 
quests are too well known to need repetition. Now, the 
theological tenets or creeds of men, consecrate no bad 
passions. We cannot say of any military mission, that it 
gives the spirit of fove, and of a sound mind. The love of 
man to man, as a fellow creature, as a brother of a kindred 
nature, and the soundness of mind necessary to reflection 
upon religion and morality, have little place in armies; nor 
are they calculated to supply the kind of strength or cou- 
rage needed to wield and withstand the weapons of de- 
struction. 

The men who, at the word or frown of their leaders, 
march to the cannon's mouth, or rush upon the sword's 
point, and those who tremble under the lash, possess a 
common nature, and may be in equal bondage. Whence 
then, this immense difference in their courage ? It is evi- 
dently owing to the artificial management of the passions 
and the imagination. A certain class of the Irish nation, 

* Principles or standards. 









SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 299 

are a remarkable example of this. They are treated by 
their rulers, as the worst subjects in the world, and praised 
by them as the best soldiers. Political vassals, in all ages 
and countries, have been employed to conquer their mas- 
ter's foes, and are easily rendered sufficiently fierce and fu- 
rious to accomplish all the purposes of hatred and revenge. 
In what did the soldiers of the cross and crescent differ ? 
Not in their liberty — not in their benevolence — not in their 
intelligence. The leaders on each side were absolute and 
tyrannical. Anger and wrath, hatred and revenge, raged 
furiously in the breasts of the hostile ranks ; and their 
minds were bewildered and inflamed by the most irrational 
enthusiasm. Peter the hermit, in preaching a crusade 
against the infidels, gave no spirit of love towards the pos- 
sessors of the holy sepulchre. And St. Louis received 
quite as humane treatment from his conqueror, Saladin, as 
he had ever shown to his captives. The truth is, that in 
all religious causes, an appeal to the sword, is an appeal to 
all the malevolent passions in the human heart, and these 
are trusted to, under the name of the God of battles. 
Slaves, without hatred and revenge, and the enthusiasm of 
a military ardor, cannot be kept in the ranks, to kill or be 
killed. They feel not sufficient energy to maintain the 
bloody strife ; all other circumstances being equal, they 
must always be conquered by free men ; unless their pas* 
sions can be stimulated to madness, and their imaginations 
to phrenzy. This is the reason why servile armies have 
proved so ferocious and unrelenting in victory. The vio- 
lent impulse of the passions, when the resistance is over- 
come, like a raging torrent breaking through an opposing 
mound, spreads ruin and destruction far and wide. The 
wars, therefore, of free and well balanced governments, will 
be either defensive or come of the lusts which war in the 
members of the people, rather than in those of the rulers. 
Hence, to make men civilly and religiously free, is to make 
an advance towards the peace of nations ; as wars will 
not only become less frequent, but less destructive. Al- 
ready, from the partial influence of liberty and religion, 
some limits have been fixed to wars of extermination. 
But from liberty alone, without love and a sound mind, 
which the gospel only can give, we shall look in vain for a 
millenium. 

Are we not now prepared to demonstrate, that the gospel 
is neither priest-craft, nor king-craft. That it is not of hu- 



300 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

man invention, and that, in fact, if men could have invent- 
ed it, they could have made no use of it. It would have 
remained in their hands, as a mere theory, for the want of 
the inspiring spirit of love. Of what avail would it have 
been, for the human inventor of such a system, to have 
sent forth his apostles, into this world of strife and war, 
like lambs among wolves ? Even the sober minded disci- 
ples of Jesus, who were made free indeed, and as fearless 
and as innocent as they were free, could have made no true 
converts to him, without the spirit of love. The produc- 
tive principle, in all religions, is feeling ; — some modifica- 
tion of love or hate, in the heart of the preacher. When 
religious orders become cold and formal, they make no pro- 
selytes ; but owe almost all their increase and stability, to 
family progression. 

To found a religion — to originate and propagate a new 
system or order of religion, fear or folly, love or hatred, 
must be brought into operation. Old customs, immemorial 
traditions, prejudices of education, national partialities and 
enmities, parental authority, &c. all may strengthen old 
systems, and in so far as they are so employed, they must 
countervail new ones. "He," the Messiah, says John, 
"came to his own, and his own received him not." "But, 
to as many as did receive him, to them gave he power to 
become the sons of God," and then adds, "who were born 
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
man; but of God:" thus, embracing the usual, if not the 
only means of making converts among mankind. 

Now, if all the denominations of christians in our coun- 
try, were to be weighed in these balances, in what would 
they be found wanting? We have all had a beginning, 
and a progress ; but may it not be doubted, whether the 
inference we usually draw from these premises, is perfectly 
logical. It is the nature of the fact which is to be proved 
to be true, and yet we produce the fact, itself, to prove its 
truth. The antiquity or duration of a religious denomina- 
tion, is no proof of the truth of its principles or disposi- 
tions ; as these are constantly liable to change, while they 
retain the same name. Anxiety, in a religious order, to 
prove the purity and excellence of their founder and first 
foundation, may be unreasonable and excessive. A dispo- 
sition to improve an improveable subject, is always more 
commendable, than tenacity of mere ancestrial opinions. 
We are persuaded, that as long as we have the New Tes- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 301 

lament, the age of a denomination, the great names to 
which it owes its reputation, the number and distinction of 
its members, and other things of this kind, cannot be of 
indispensable importance or amount to decisive proof, that 
the truths of Christianity, are exclusively possessed and 
practised within its pale. The spirit of fear, for instance, 
may have been in a greater or less degree employed by a 
religious leader, and his followers may have corrected or 
reformed this part of the system. Or, the founder may 
have been opposed to all servile and superstitious fear, and 
those who come after, greatly degenerated in this respect. 
The same nominal order of men, may be conspicuous for 
the spirit of love at one time, and equally so at another for 
the want of it. "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and 
the children's teeth are set on edge," is a proverb, which, 
in this point of view, is no more to be used in our Israel. 
For as we all may degenerate, so we may all improve. 
Rules and forms of ministerial and church government in- 
jurious or oppressive in their nature or tendency, may be 
altered or repealed; or if they continue in the statute book, 
the more enlarged and liberal views of the times, may ren- 
der them a dead letter. 

If our analysis is correct, or our tests to be relied upon, 
the religion of none of the churches or religious orders in 
our country, our own not excepted, is perfectly pure or 
scriptural. We all have either too much fear, or too little 
love. Either too little power, or too little soundness of 
mind. When our religion shall degenerate into a com- 
pound of fear and folly, and ill-natured or inhuman feel- 
ings, the measure of our depravity will be well nigh filled 
up; the candlestick be about to be removed, and Ichabod 
to appear like the hand writing upon the wall against us. 

God, in the gospel, hath given us liberty and intellectual 
capacity, and all the means, the truths, and the graces, ne- 
cessary to enlarge our hearts, and inspire them with the 
most devout and benevolent affections. What folly, what 
madness will it be it be in us, to prefer to these excellent 
gifts, a cowardly and timid spirit, or a vicious heart and in- 
fatuated mind ? 

Palemon. 
26 



302 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 52. 

Mutual Rights, vol. i. April, 1825, page 340. 

Dokemasius to the Editors of the Mutual Rights. 

I cannot reasonably object to pay, — 
A tax that all must pay ; — 
From those who scribble, up to those who pray ; — 

Nor would I say one word in reply to "One of the Laity," 
if the matter to which he adverted had been published in 
the Mutual Rights, or if he had given a fair and full quota- 
tion of my words. Several of your readers, it may fairly be 
presumed, will have never seen the letters from "Dokema- 
sius" to "Amicus ;" and, if disposed to see them, may not be 
able to procure the 2d volume of the Wesleyan Repository. 
My words are — "Yet, notwithstanding, it does seem strange 
to some persons, that a church and a ministry, with no 
power save what is derived from one man, should be de- 
fended with so much zeal; they had imagined, that men 
would shrink from an ocean where all their personal iden- 
tity as christians and ministers must be swallowed up. But 
whoever looks carefully into the matter, will perceive, that 
though such may be the fact, it is not perceived by them- 
selves, that classes, and congregations, and stations, and 
circuits, and districts, conceive themselves to be whole and 
entire churches ; and that class leaders and stewards, and 
travelling preachers, and deacons, and elders, and presiding 
elders, feel like a sort of bishops, and of course dread a change 
in the present system. That this, in many instances, is the 
state of men's views and feelings among us, there is sufficient 
reason to believe, and these views and feelings account for 
the tenacity with which they cleave to the present economy. 
Mr. Hume, in a very able essay, explains the fact, that the 
Persians submitted for a long time to their conquerors the 
Greeks, by proving that the successors of Alexander, adopt- 
ed the policy of the Persian kings. Their policy was the 
same in civil matters, that ours is in church government. 
In one view it seems very humiliating, that a whole com- 
munity, whether civil or religious, should be entirely de- 
pendent upon one man ; but in another, it is easy to per- 
ceive that such a state of dependence must generate expec- 
tation, that the same hand which humbles us, exalts us also. 
By sweeping away every vestige of aristocratical authority, 
as well as personal liberty, it is, that all absolute govern- 
ments, whether in church or state, animate the hopes of 






SNETHENON LAY REPRESENTATION. 303 

all, from the least unto the greatest ; so that the men who 
have no security for their highest honors, are, nevertheless, 
stimulated to the greatest fidelity and zeal in the service of 
the superior, knowing that all are waiting and watching for 
their place. Were it not for this great principle of attach- 
ment and hope, all the monarchies, and hierarchies, and 
ours among the rest, would soon fall into ruins. I can, for 
myself, endure our government, though by a singular ano- 
maly it excludes me, (in common with the rest of my order) 
not only from all hope of promotion, or reward, but from 
the possibility of thinking (as others do) that I have some 
power or consequence, while I have none. I can endure 
almost any thing from Methodist preachers, except their at- 
tempts to prove that this order of things is scriptural." 

"Mr. A's favorite and common-place maxim, 'local men 
have local ideas,' proves how little he was versed in atomic 
philosophy. He had often seen among us the worst kind of 
selfishness, which, instead of tracing to its true cause, mis- 
guided arid misplaced ideas, he strangely attributed to local 
views. The truth is, that local ideas and feelings are the 
proper basis of all benevolent and liberal sentiments; and 
may unite with others to an indefinite extent. We have 
had abundant occasion to remark, that those who travel 
away all their localities, travel away all their virtues." 
"Mark that word endure" says One of the Laity, "a great 
deal of meaning is couched in it." It is, indeed, a most 
significant and comprehensive word when it undergoes the 
operation of his pen, for he makes it to mean cannot endure. 
"But here," he says, "I cannot forbear to ask, is such a man 
worthy of what he so plainly appears to be seeking, who 
can, unblushingly, tell the world, that that great man of 
God, the late venerable Bishop Asbury, by having travelled 
away all his 'localities,' had travelled away all his 'virtues?' 
This, to be sure, he advances in a covert and rather an indi- 
rect manner ; but any one, possessed of two ideas, who will 
take the trouble to compare his conclusion with the pre- 
mises which he had just laid down, will not, I think, say 
that I have misrepresented him." Now, it seems, that if 
any man who has two ideas can clearly prove that this 
writer has misrepresented me, he has not the smallest ob- 
jection to make a suitable acknowledgment. Who is to 
be the judge of this suitableness ? If Mr. A. ever had any 
localities, they must have been those of an old English Me- 
thodist preacher, and one among the number must have 



304 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 

been, that all church government ought to be in the hands 
of travelling preachers. Will any man, save this One of the 
Laity, say that I unblushingly, or in a covert and rather an 
indirect manner, tell the world that Mr. Asbury, by coming 
from England to America, and travelling year after year 
through these states, travelled away the opinions which he 
held in England respecting the powers and prerogatives of 
travelling preachers ? No man knew better than I did, 
Mr. Asbury's unalterable attachments to Wesleyan powers 
and prerogatives ; and no man, I presume, took the liberty 
to converse more freely with him respecting his national pre- 
judices — and it is due to his memory to say, that, in most 
cases, he took my remarks in good part. He was the last 
man in the world that I could have suspected of travelling 
away his localities. Can this writer appeal to the Searcher 
of hearts, that he really believes that I meant or intended, 
that Mr. Asbury travelled away all his virtues ? If he can, 
he will do well to waste no more ink upon me ; and I can 
assure you that I shall trouble you with no more remarks 
upon the productions of his pen. 

Yours, &/C. Dokemasius. 



An address to the Ministers and Members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, appears in April, 1825 ; by Bartimeus. (Rev. A. Shinn.) 

Mr. M'Caine writes in the 1st volume of the Mutual Rights, with 
the signature of Nehemiah. 

Volume II, of Mutual Rights, &c. begins with August. Dr. S. K. 
Jennings, chairman of the editorial committee. 

Revd. James Smith withdraws from the Mutual Rights cause. 

Waters. Gideon Davis, Esq. writes with the signature of Zuingle. 



IVo. 53, 

Mutual Rights, vol. ii. November, 1825, page 82. 

The Necessity of Union. 

The motto, "united we stand, divided we fall," is pecu- 
liarly applicable to us, as our professed object is not so much 
to obtain abstract rights, as those which are mutual. What 
but a downfall can happen to the men who cannot agree 
upon the "do as you would be done by" plan? Some of 
our brethren being judged according to outward appear- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 305 

ances, are considered as traitors to the cause of reform ; but 
though I do not view them in so unfavorable a point of light, 
yet I cannot put a favorable construction upon their move- 
ments. Their ''trumpet gives an uncertain sound." They 
perplex and paralize the minds of their friends, and strength- 
en the hands of their opponents. These good friends of 
the cause of reform it seems, are terribly afraid lest "we 
should run wild ;" and to prevent this, when a practical 
crisis approaches, they are found in the opposition ranks, 
or declare themselves neuters. I have said a thousand times 
over, and I repeat it again ; our object is not to make or to 
destroy laws or rules of government, but to render the prin- 
ciples of legislation mutual and common to all who are sub- 
ject to legislative control. Who does not remember Mr. 
Asbury's point and severity when the subject of local or 
lay-membership in the conferences was touched upon. He 
manifested a feeling- of indignity at the idea of men coming- 
into conference, to regulate the concerns of travelling; 
preachers, in which they could have no participation. So 
far all was well. Had he gone one step further, and involv- 
ed the maxim, "it is a bad rule which will not work both 
ways," he would have come out right. But no sooner did 
the conferences begin to make rules to regulate the concerns 
of local preachers and the members of the church, than the 
point and edge of his feelings became blunted. I instance 
Mr. Asbury, because it is well known that he gave the key 
note. Let this principle go fully into operation, and it is 
plain, that we must have three legislative bodies, each legis- 
lating their own separate concerns. The only remedy is in 
the significant and well chosen word Mutual — in the give and 
take plan — in all voting together whether the question re- 
lates to one or to all. Take away the mutual action, and all 
is wild uproar and confusion, or the death-like stillness of 
despotism; for without this action in the social system, it 
can only vibrate from anarchy to oppression. 

It is amusing to see how ingenious some of our anti-re- 
formers are in finding out parallels between our government 
and the government of the United States; suppose they try 
their skill in looking for parallels between the patriots of 
'76, and some of our professed reformers, would they not be 
equally puzzled as if they should attempt to find out the 
points of agreement between one who steers by the pole 
star, and one who is guided in his course by a meteor ? I, 
says one, should be for a lay -representation, if it were prac- 
26* 



306 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

ticable. And I, says another, should have no objection to 
the local preachers being represented, if I thought the Gene- 
ral Conference would grant it. Is not this giving up the 
cause? If brethren doubt it, let them look at the conse- 
quences. Suppose a new set of legislators, like the king 
who knew not Joseph, should arise to oppress our Israel — 
to bind heavy burdens and grievous to borne upon us, what 
could these brethren say ? Would they say as they now 
say, we should have no objection to a representative govern- 
ment if it were practicable ? Surely this is giving up a cause 
for lost. Old patriots used not to speak thus, but when 
their country's rights were invaded, would talk about dying 
in the last ditch. Ah ! brethren when you tell us that you 
give up the cause of representation as impracticable, you 
wound, you kill us in the house of our friends. Your fears, 
I trust, and not as some suppose, your treachery, have be- 
trayed you into this ; but in the name of common sense, 
and of a common cause, why proclaim your fears? Do you 
not perceive that you put words into the mouths of our op- 
ponents ; that you plead their cause? Let any case be ad- 
mitted as impracticable, and who will be blamed for not 
attempting it? We know that lay-representation is practi- 
cable in other churches; and the United brethren have pro- 
ved it to be practicable for the members to elect delegates 
from among their travelling and local preachers to their 
General Conference without destroying their itinerancy. And 
he must be a sceptic indeed who can doubt that they derive 
benefit, as well as security from representation. Under this 
polity, the Protestant Episcopal church is fast rising into 
consequence; and the Lutheran, and German Reformed 
churches increase, and are united. 

Would not our friends do well, to reserve their apprehen- 
sions of "running wild," at least in part, for others as well 
as ourselves ? Little as they suspect it, "old side" men 
may innovate ; but when they attempt any thing in this 
way, they do it systematically — the plan is first made out by 
the aid of two or three confidential men ; then it goes the 
rounds; partizans are secured, and noses are counted; and 
if by the ensuing General Conference the majority is gained, 
all is ripe and ready for adoption by a final vote. I think it 
highly probable, if not certain, that changes are now in con- 
templation, but what these changes are, we shall not be per- 
mitted to know before the time. My conjectures and sus- 
picions are, that mutual rights will make no part of them. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 307 

It is not unlikely that these matters may get wind ; but whe- 
ther or not, I confidently predict, that any plan which does 
not secure the right of suffrage will fail in the great and es- 
sential point of securing the union of the body. The time 
is fast approaching when churchmen will lose all confidence 
in those who legislate their rights away, or legislate without 
regard to them. Suppose for instance, that instead of the 
present assent of all the annual conferences, two-thirds 
should be substituted ; and that presiding elders should be 
converted into chairmen, &c, with a station, &c, will not 
the language of the discipline still be in effect to the mem- 
bers "stand by thyself, come not nigh unto us, for we are 
holier than thou." 

I again entreat the friends of the principle of representa- 
tion, to be true to their purpose. A united body of travel- 
ling and local preachers and members, who will not be mo- 
ved away from their steadfastness in this great and glorious 
cause, must gather strength and increase in numbers. If 
from no other cause, from this one alone, viz. nine parts 
out of ten of those on the opposite side, are really laboring 
under a mental deception ; they suppose that rights can be 
gained or secured without representation, but experience 
must tend to dissipate this illusion. In the heat of contro- 
versy it may happen, that men cannot reflect ; but changes 
present men and things in different points of light. Some 
of those who have been the most fierce in their opposition, 
may be expected to lose the balance of their prejudices, and 
be turned fairly round. One fact must be apparent to us all : 
it is this, that almost all the opposition we have had to en- 
counter has been personal. This of itself determines the 
course we ought to pursue. Our principles cannot be refu- 
ted ; but time will be required to live down the prejudices 
which have been propagated against our dispositions and 
intentions. As soon as it is perceived that goodness is on 
our side, the truth of our cause will be evident ; for a doubt 
of the former, is the veil which hides the latter from public 
view. 

I flatter myself that the essays of <• i Eartimeus, ,, will have 
their influence upon those travelling preachers who may 
chance to read them. A few more such champions for our 
cause must force hot-heads to pause. Those of our friends 
who have been four years true and steady to the cause, must 
feel indescribable complacency in reading this most master- 
ly vindication of the part they have acted. Such are the 



308 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

sweet rewards of consistency and constancy in a good cause. 
Had we abandoned the principle, these essays or addresses 
could not have existed, the object and the excitement would 
have been wanting; and genius itself cannot write without 
these. Every day's experience and observation produces 
fresh conviction in my mind, that not only our future union, 
but also our prosperity, depends upon a hearty admission, 
by all parties among us, of the principle of representation. 
No language can describe my emotions when I hear bre- 
thren talk of giving up the rights of any party among us, to 
carry a point or to gain an accommodation. It is a basis for 
universal confidence which we want. Where else shall we 
find it, if we give up the right of suffrage? If there could 
be any remaining doubts at this day, of the unequivocal na- 
ture and tendency of equal suffrage, they might be all solved 
by a reference to the conduct of all the despots of the earth, 
whose whole history is little else than a detail of their en- 
deavors to prevent or destroy this sacred right. Free voters 
may indeed err as it regards their own true interests ; for 
like hierarchists they are fallible ; but their interests natu- 
rally countervail their errors, whereas, the interests of abso- 
lute rulers are all embarked on the other side. 

From the beginning, I took the ground on which I could 
challenge the confidence of all my brethren ; and on this 
ground I still stand. I have nothing to conceal, nothing to 
fear, nothing to barter, or to modify. All that I aim at, all 
that I ask, is for all. Extending my confidence to all, have 
I not a right to expect in return, what I give? What room 
is here for jealousy or suspicion ? Let not those who de- 
prive me of my right of suffrage blame me for not feeling 
confidence towards them, as they themselves put it out of 
my power to do so. 0, why will they be so unreasonable, 
so unjust as to demand that which they refuse to give. We 
have, my biethren a plain course to pursue ; a plain answer 
to give to all men. Let us leave to those who take it upon 
themselves to make laws for others without their consent, to 
begin their work in the dark. In secret we have nothing to 
say — our address should be, "is thy heart right as my heart 
is with thy heart? — then give me thy hand." Only let us 
persevere in maintaining the broad principle of representa- 
tion, and we must finally secure the approbation of heaven 
and earth. I am aware brethren, that 1 have been accused 
of ambition — of aspiring at the distinction of a leader in 
this business ; it is true, that as a matter of necessity I must 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 309 

have my name among the first in the order of time, but in 
every thing else I hope, you will all more than emulate me. 
In perseverance, in prudence, in zeal, let us all strive to be, 
at least, equals.- — We shall really do God service — our bre- 
thren, our countrymen, and our children shall rise up and 
call us blessed. how my heart mourns over those who 
have let another man take their crown! And should any 
more among us desert the cause, we can only regret that 
they should count themselves unworthy of our confidence, 
and the confidence of the lovers of the true principles of 
religious liberty. Nicholas Snethen. 

Linganore, Oct. 12, 1825. 



November, 1825. A letter is published from the Union Society of 
Bedford county, Tennessee, stating that the presiding elder publicly 
read out the names of fourteen official members, some of whom were 
local preachers. The number of local preachers expelled, cut off, or 
censured, are nine or ten, besides exhorters. When these trials are 
ended, (they say) if the common members will not abandon the 'Union 
Society,' these also will be turned out. An appeal was taken to the 
annual conference. In February, 1826, letters were published, stating 
that all the local preachers who had taken appeals to the annual con- 
ference were restored 3 and the presiding elder censured, &,c. 



No. 54. 

Mutual Rights, vol. ii. February, 1826, p. 154, p. 171. 

A Discourse on the Supremacy. 

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power 
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
yow."— Mat. xxviii. 18, 19, 20. 

It is a fact, that the commission which our Lord gave to 
his apostles, before his resurrection, differed in several re- 
spects from the one which he gave afterwards. Is it upon 
this fact, that certain writers have predicated an interme- 
diate dispensation between the law and the gospel ? The 
following are the terms of the first mission. "These 
twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, go 
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the 
Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of 



310 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

the house of Israel, and as ye go, preach, saying, the king- 
dom of God is at hand." — Matt. x. 5-7. 

Now, we do not perceive, that the apostles, after the pen- 
ticost, acted upon the letter or the spirit of the instructions 
given unto them, and the seventy, in this first instance. 
These instructions were, indeed, incompatible with the ge- 
neral nature of their future mission. An admission of a 
distinction in these two commissions, the one given after 
our Lord began his personal ministry, and the other after 
his resurrection, to go into operation so soon as the apos- 
tles were endued with power from on high, may perhaps be 
found to have some bearing upon the long controverted 
subject of the power of the keys. If the first commission 
was superceded by the second, as it most certainly was — if 
the apostles did not feel themselves bound before the day of 
penticost, as they certainly did not, to go forth among the 
gentiles, as they were first directed to go through the land 
of Judea, then, why may we not suppose that other circum- 
stances in this intermediate or previous state of things, 
might also have been peculiar and limited ? When I sent 
you forth, said Jesus, without purse or scrip, &c, lacked 
ye any thing ? And they said, nothing, Lord. In their 
subsequent ministry among the nation, they had no such 
competence, but lacked almost all things, being in hunger- 
ings often, and nakedness, and peril. Under what com- 
mission was Peter to use the keys, or the binding and loos- 
ing power? If the high supremacy which has been predi- 
cated upon the grant of power to Peter, had actually gone 
into operation after the penticost, would it not have inter- 
fered with some of those powers in heaven or in earth, 
which were given to "the Lord of all ?" And is it not rea- 
sonable to suppose, that the record of all those operations 
would have been legible in the acts of the apostles, and 
other parts of the apostolic writings, in which his name so 
often occurs ? For ourselves, we strongly incline to think, 
that the ministerial peculiarities which appear in the gos- 
pels previous to the crucifixion, were almost all, if we may 
so speak, merged in this last and general commission ; and 
that the matter was so understood by the apostles, who, 
from thenceforth, acted, spoke, and wrote on all occasions 
with an eye to the supremacy of their adored and adorable 
Lord and master. 

There is another question of much importance to be con- 
sidered. How does this commission effect other preachers 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 3H 

or teachers, who have had no express command or revela- 
tion from the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Paul seems to speak 
to this case, "I certify to you, brethren," says he, "that 
the gospel which was preached of me, is not after men ; for 
I neither received it of men, neither was I taught it, but by 
revelation of Jesus Christ." "But though we or an angel 
from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, than that 
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Here 
it appears, that Paul received by revelation the same gospel 
which the twelve had been verbally commanded to teach. 
From all this, the necessity of a written gospel is manifest. 
There are three points which might be separately consi- 
dered in the text. 1. The supremacy of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 2. The extent of this mission. 3. The matter of 
instruction. Now, should we take either of these three 
positions separately, or all of them collectively, could a 
ministerial supremacy be extracted from them, or the parts 
of the text from which they are deduced ? Let us try the 
words. 1. "All power is given unto me in Heaven and in 
earth." 2. "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations." 3. 
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you." No one surely will attempt to draw 
human supremacy from the remaining part of the passage, 
"baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." All power in heaven and in 
earth, constitutes Jesus Christ the head of the church. 
Would any degree of power short of this have been suffi- 
cient for this high office ? Head of a church, which was to 
exist in all nations, and finally to embrace them all. Would 
not such a church have to encounter all kinds of enemies 
and difficulties in the world ? Is not ubiquity or universal 
presence necessary to superintend such a church ? What a 
difference between the Jewish church in the little territory of 
Judea, and a christian church extending over the surface of 
the globe ! What a difference between a church composed 
of twelve tribes, and one composed of all nations, kindreds, 
languages, people, and tongues ! Does not this latter 
church require omnipotent power to defend and protect it? 
All kinds of power in heaven and in earth. On earth there 
are three kinds of power : the legislative, the executive, 
and the judicial. All these belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
How many kinds of power there may be in heaven, we 
know not ; but we do know, that there are meritorious, and 
forgiving, and interceding, and sanctifying power there. 



312 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

He has all-redeeming and saving power. And all judg- 
ment is committed unto him, that all men may honor the 
son, even as they honor the father. Go teach all nations, 
that God is their father, that Jesus Christ is their saviour, 
and that the Holy Ghost is their sanctifier. Teach them 
all things whatsoever J have commanded you, and nothing 
else. Keep back nothing that is profitable for them ; but 
teach them not for doctrines, the commandments of men. 
The preachers of the gospel ought to be exceedingly cau- 
tious how they take upon themselves the appearance of 
supremacy over the church of God, which he hath pur- 
chased with his own blood. In that day, when he who has 
all power in heaven and in earth, shall appear on his great 
white throne, it will be an awful thing, if any of his servants 
shall be found to have aspired to any of his attributes. 

We shall take occasion to transcribe a certain portion of 
scripture, which seems to us to speak of the supremacy or 
headship of the Lord Jesus Christ over the church, and we 
shall do this the more carefully from an apprehension, that 
this point has of late been overlooked. Whether from ac- 
cident or otherwise, we know not, but it is so, that we do 
not hear the kingly office of him whose right it is, enough 
exalted. Has the unaccountable tenacity and zeal with 
which the legislative power of travelling preachers has been 
maintained, any influence in this case ? Is there a degree 
of irritation and soreness in some minds upon this point, 
and in others a delicacy and fear of giving pain ? If, from 
these, or any other causes, we cease to be hearty in main- 
taining and defending the universal power of him who hath 
ascended up far above all heavens, the fine gold has be- 
come dim, and the wine is mixed with water. In the 1st 
chapter of the Hebrews, St. Paul is giving all power in 
heaven and in earth to him whose right it is. God "hath 
in these last days," says he, "spoken unto us by his Son, 
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also 
he made the worlds ; who being the brightness of his glory, 
and the express image of his person, and upholding all 
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself 
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty 
on high. Being made so much better than the angels, as 
he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name 
than they ; for unto which of the angels said he at any time, 
thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ? And 
again, when he brought in the first begotten into the world, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 313 

he saith, "and let all the angels worship him" — "but unto 
which of the angels, said he, at any time, sit on my right 
hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool ? Are they not 
all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who 
shall be heirs of salvation." 

We are aware that this whole passage is usually applied 
in the abstract to the divinity of our Lord, and that the an- 
gels are considered as celestial beings, not including the 
human angels of the churches ; but are not the angels of 
the churches included as a species in the genus? If he 
said not at any time to any of the celestial angels who 
dwell in his presence, to any of those pure and sinless spi- 
rits, who are endued with such vast intellects and energies. 
Sit thou on my right hand — occupy the mediatorial throne — 
be head over all things to the church — be priest forever 
after the order of Melchizedec, how much less did he say 
so to any mortal man, whose breath is in his nostrils, who 
passeth away as a shadow, and continueth not. Are not 
all the human angels of the churches, including apostles, 
and prophets, and evangelists, and pastors, and teachers, 
ministering spirits, are they not sent forth to minister for 
them who shall be heirs of salvation ? So says the scrip- 
ture — for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all 
come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of 
the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of (he fulness of Christ. The very idea of im- 
mortal spirits, or mortal men, being angels, (messengers as 
the word means) of there being apostles (that is sent) sent 
forth — of their being ministers (servants) to minister, (to 
servo) precludes all pretention in them to supremacy over 
the church. 

That the Apostle had in his mind a conception of the 
mediatorial supremacy, appears from the next chapter, and 
the manner in which he illustrates the quotation he makes 
from the 8th Psalm; "But we see Jesus, who was made a 
little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, 
crowned with glory and honor: for it became him, for 
whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to 
make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffer- 
ings." This is the conclusion of all the arguments through- 
out the Epistle. Moses, says he, in the third chapter, was 
faithful in all his house as a servant , but Christ as a Son 
over his own house, whose house we are. But this man, 
27 



314 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, forever sat down 
at the right hand of God ; from henceforth expecting, till 
his enemies be made his footstool. 

But if all the legislative, executive, and judicial power in 
the church upon earth, is in the Lord Jesus Christ: if there 
be no ministerial sovereignty over the church, how can 
there be any discipline in it ? Whether St. Paul intended it 
or not, he has given a satisfactory answer to these enquiries 
in the 12th chapter of the first Corinthians. The "helps 11 
and the "governments" he makes it appear are a part of 
the body, the church, and not the head ; servants not mas- 
ters. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and 
all the members of that one body being many, are one body ; 
so also, Christ, that is Christ's body. For the body is not 
one member, but many ; and if the ear shall say, because I 
am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it, therefore, not of 
the body? And if travelling preachers shall say, we are not 
of the body, are they therefore not of the body, but of the 
head? The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need 
of thee; nor again, the hand to the feet; I have no need 
of you ; but when preachers, or any body else, claim exclusive 
powers or prerogatives in the church, do they not say in ef- 
fect to all others, we have no need of you. We have the 
right or the power to legislate without the representatives of 
the church; and we will do so. In former times when the 
judicial powers used to be all in the travelling preachers, 
they said, they had no need of the aid of the church to try 
and expel members. Now, when men do these things, in 
this kind of independent manner, they do them as the head, 
and not as the body. They exercise a sovereign and not 
a ministerial and social power — and there is a schism in the 
body ; for the members have not the same care one for 
another ; if one member suffer, all the members do not suffer 
with it ; and if one member be honored, all the members 
cannot be honored with it. If the laity suffer by the partial 
or arbitrary legislation of the preachers, and the preachers 
reap the fruit of their own laws, how can they sympathize 
with the laity ? Or how can the laity be honored legisla- 
tively, when they have no representatives. There is a schism 
in the body, when the mutual rights, and the mutual sym- 
pathies of the preachers and the people are suspended, or 
destroyed. God hath tempered the body together, having 
given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that 
there should be no schism in the body ; but that the mem- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 315 

bers should have the same care one for another. As in 
the human body, so in social ones, sympathies are the re- 
sult of organization and circulation. And as in the bodies 
of rational beings, there must be species of self-government, 
so also, in all social bodies, founded on rational principles. 
No objection is felt, or made to governing power being 
vested in the preachers of the gospel ; but to their govern- 
ing as the head of the church, and not as its members or 
instruments. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and mem- 
bers in particular." The weakest governments are not 
those which have the least power, but the least degree of 
social organization. Absolute power of force, strictly speak- 
ing, is not government. To govern is to manage the social 
sympathies and energies, so as to bring the greatest possible 
degree of. general regard to bear upon the general interest. 
The oldest and most powerful hierarchies, stand recorded 
upon the pages of histoiy, and will forever stand recorded, 
for unparalleled corruption and depravity. For all moral 
and religious purposes, they became utterly impotent — in- 
nocence and virtue alone groaned and bled under their iron 
rule. 

The distinction which we have made between govern- 
ments considered as members of the body, and as the head 
of the body, seems to us to be fairly deducible from St. 
Paul's statements and conclusions; and our minds labor 
under a strange illusion if this distinction is not founded in 
truth and nature. It is no uncommon thing to hear brethren 
arguing, that a travelling preacher with absolute legislative 
power, is the choice or representative of the church, because 
he was once a member, and has graduated to the office of 
an elder. Thus confounding the difference between being 
taken from among the members of the church, and being 
placed quite above and independent of them. Absolute 
sovereigns themselves were once subjects; but they cease 
to be subjects when they are placed above law, and have the 
law making, and law controlling power in their own hands. 
The president of the United States, or the governor of any 
state, on the contrary, is subject to the laws, and has no 
law making power. The appellation, therefore, of chief 
magistrate does not affect their citizenship, they are still of 
the body. Take another example on the descending scale; 
one fifth of the slaves are represented in the general go- 
vernment; but though they are thus nominally represented, 
they are not of the body, they are not enfranchised, and 



316 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

their condition is in no respect altered. The result would 
be the same with us, if instead of the present apportionment 
to the number of travelling preachers, the representatives 
to the General Conference, were apportioned to the number 
of church members. 

The Pope is placed above or over the church, he is the 
head, and not an instrument or member of the body. Mr. 
Wesley did not govern as one of the body. All the mem- 
bers and people, who as the phrase is, were in connection 
with him, were connected with him onh< as their head, he 
was their law maker, he was their judge. How far his patri- 
archal character became his authority, we shall not pretend 
to determine ; but it is as clear as light, that his example can 
be no precedent for travelling preachers, as they can have no 
pretensions to the character of fathers or founders. 

As it respects the law making department among us, the 
church is, as it were, dumb, and the preachers deaf. Our 
General Conference and all other bodies constituted like it, 
who have few or no interests in common with those for 
whom they legislate, must be in a great measure dead to all 
the social sympathies of well organized bodies. We ad- 
monish, we entreat travelling preachers again and again, to 
beware lest they be found encroaching upon any of the 
powers in the church of Christ, which belong to the King 
of Kings, and Lord of Lords; and we would do the same 
to the representatives of the church, if they had any exis- 
tence among us. The moment that any individual under 
a christian, or a ministerial character, ceases to act as a 
member of the body, whether in his public or private capa- 
city, he must encroach upon the prerogatives of the head 
of the church. 

Palemon. 



No. 55. 

Mutual Rights, vol. ii. April, 1826, p. 189. 

Matters worthy of the serious reflection of Travelling Preachers. 

Addressed to their consideration by Nicholas Snethen. 

Let us enquire what was done by the memorable consti- 
tution makers of 1808. Did they, in imitation of their coun- 
trymen in Philadelphia, twenty-one years before, guarantee 
liberty to others while they provided for their own? Why 
this contrast between a civil and a religious constitution in 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 317 

the same country ? The constitution of the General Govern- 
ment of the United States, guarantees a republican form of 
government to all the states; but the constitution of the 
General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, mo- 
nopolizes all suffrage and representation to travelling preach- 
ers. Now let justice be done, let Mr. Wesley, and necessity, 
and Britain, and British preachers be exonerated from all 
blame in this case. To American travelling preachers alone 
this act and deed belongs ; and no act and deed, could have 
been more voluntary. Never were a set of men more free 
from foreign and adventitious influence; never did a body 
of men act under a consciousness of more plenary powers. 
Mr. Wesley's authority had been twice superceded — his 
name had been erased from the minutes — the council plan 
had been rejected — the notes on the discipline had been set 
at nought — and Dr. Coke was no longer in place ; and yet, 
in 1808, in the city of Baltimore, a constitution, [as they 
have since seen fit to call it,] was gotten up by American 
travelling preachers, to place themselves as nearly as possi- 
ble in the condition of the hundred English preachers under 
the deed of declaration. 

Brethren, pause and reflect I beseech you. I know that 
you have a thousand times proclaimed this state of things 
to be scriptural, to be right, and stand pledged to defend it 
to the last extremity ; but there is one point of light in which 
you have not seriously reflected upon this matter : what 
scripture authority can you produce to authorise you to go- 
vern Americans otherwise than as free men? Do the scrip- 
tures empower you to govern your fellow citizens as Eng- 
lishmen, or Frenchmen, or Spaniards are governed? 0! 
brethren this is a serious and awful business, and involves 
consequences of infinite importance. You proclaim to the 
world, in effect, your determination not to govern christians, 
as free men, and to do all you can to prevent them from be- 
ing so governed. Nay, you are ready to reply, you wrong 
us much, we are patriots, we are friends to American liberty : 
well, brethren, you yourselves being judges, if your consti- 
tution of 1808, and your book of discipline, or the princi- 
ples of them, were substituted in the place of the constitu- 
tion of the general or state governments, how much American 
liberty would remain ? You have been aware of this conse- 
quence, and have told us again and again, that governments 
in church and state differ. For myself, I am anxious to es- 
tablish only one point of resemblance. Let them both go- 
27* 



318 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

vern us as free men, and I am satisfied. But you will not 
admit a vestige of liberty into the government of the church. 
The General Conference does not govern the members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church as free men. And now I warn 
you, I charge you not to say, that to govern christians as 
free men is unscriptural. Would not such a declaration be 
almost blasphemous. I know that you have been loud and 
unwearied in your praises of discipline ; but really this is 
not to the point. One act of government among free men 
is of more value than the despotic control of a nation. The 
wisdom, the perfection, the glory of all government, consists 
in its adaptation, to the government of free men. But you 
are not convinced that the principles of your government 
are despotic. Are not your inward emotions, and your out- 
ward attitudes the same as those of despots? Take one 
example, are not your fears identical with theirs? They 
are afraid of the people, afraid to trust power in their hands ; 
you are afraid of the members of the church, afraid to trust 
power in their hands. You have avowed this fear over and 
over, and you do not limit or qualify it in any manner or way ; 
you are afraid to trust any but yourselves with the right of 
suffrage. Do the fears of any absolute government exceed 
this ? This rule will work both ways. It is more uniform 
in its operation than any other. In our country, and in all 
free countries, the fear is in the people, not in the rulers. 
The people are afraid to trust too much power to the rulers. 
This may be relied on in all cases, civil and ecclesiastical. 
The freedom of men and christians may be tested by the 
fears which are found to exist in the rulers and the ruled. 
The greatest tyrants that have ever lived are notorious in 
history for their fears, and even for their terrors. Hence 
their body-guards, their standing armies, their fortresses ; and 
hence too their spies and inquisitions ; and also the priva- 
tion of the liberty of the press and of speech. 

Brethren, your feelings and your movements are not, and 
cannot be like the feelings and movements of those who 
o-overn free men. In all that pertains to the government of 
the church you feel, you act like masters, and not like 
equals. Talk as you may about your sincerity, and your 
impartiality, &c. still it is but the sincerity and the imparti- 
ality of absolute rulers. Do you ask whether sincerity and 
impartiality are not the same in all men ? I answer, all men 
do not, can not judge alike of their own sincerity and im- 
partiality. Whenever Mr. Asbury was accused of partiality, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 319 

his standing reply was, "I am set for the defence of the gos- 
pel," meaning the travelling plan ; but it so happened that 
this defence was identical with the defence of the unlimit- 
ed power which he held for life. He was personally inter- 
ested in every case of this kind. The same remarks are 
more or less applicable to every travelling preacher, and 
every bishop, when their own exclusive power is concerned. 
Your fears are all on one side. You are only afraid of 
the people, but have no distrust, no fear of yourselves. 
How is this? Are you not men of like passions with them ? 
or is the temptation to err all on their side ? It must be 
granted, that the point of temptation, should be the point 
of precaution. — And is it so, that the people alone are 
tempted to destroy the travelling plan ? Prove this, and 
will you not prove that something in this plan must be 
wrong? Why, upon this hypothesis, what becomes of the 
eulogy of itinerancy? Have you not praised this ministry 
for its economy, for its peculiar energy, for a thousand ad- 
vantages to the church, all of which they receive and enjoy 
without care or labor ; can then the temptation to super- 
cede it fall on them alone ? How passing strange. There 
is not a logician in the world, perhaps, who would not a 
priori infer, that the temptation to destroy the travelling plan, 
would be felt most strongly by travelling men themselves. 
These itinerant motions are not of the celestial kind, preach- 
ers do not move like planets by centrifugal and centripetal 
forces ; but like bodies in mechanical motion, they are 
constantly impeded by resistances analogous to gravity and 
friction : they have as it were a vis enertiae to overcome. 

Well, brethren, you are not afraid of power in your own 
hands, it is not worth while now, to enquire how you came 
to be possessed of it, whether by accident, or by design, or 
by some affinity between it and your inclinations ; but we 
are to take it for granted, that you, and your successors, 
will be always duly restrained by a fear of wealth and ease 
and honor, or we must live under your government, in a 
state of habitual apprehension, lest you may be induced to 
employ your power to promote your wealth and ease and 
honor, and that at our expense. Of course, your power is 
wrong in principle, it is in a wrong place or country, it will 
lead to wrong consequences. 

I lay it down as an axiom, that the religious liberty of a 
people should never be reduced in principle, below the 
standard of their civil liberty. And I think that it will not 



3'20 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

be difficult to prove from the New Testament, that in the 
churches which Paul planted among the gentiles, the prin- 
ciples of religious liberty exceeded the then existing stand- 
ard of civil freedom : what other construction can be put 
upon 1. Cor. vi. 1. 8. Certainly if the tribunals of the un- 
believers had been more free and equitable, than Paul would 
have admitted in the church, it would have been an outrage 
past all endurance, for him to have prevented the brethren 
from appealing to them for justice. 



No. 56. 

Mutual Rights, vol. ii. May, 1826, page 236. 

Thoughts on Legal Changes and such Matters. 

What objection do brethren make to the having of the 
form of our government so altered, as to admit lay dele- 
gates into the General Conference ? One of their most 
weighty objections is, the Methodist discipline will become 
changed in consequence of such a measure. If there be 
any truth in this objection, it must be predicated upon ex- 
ample or analogy ; but is the example or analogy to be 
found ? was this the fact in regard to the change of the 
form of government in our country ? With us, the form of 
government was changed from a hereditary monarchy, to an 
elective republic, and this change was the result of force 
and compulsion. A war of several years, in which much 
blood was spilt and passions and prejudices were inflamed 
to the highest degree, one might suppose would have led 
the people in whom was the sovereign power, if any thing 
could have led them, to reject the laws of England as well 
as its government; and yet they adopted the common law 
of England, and retained the outlines of its system of ju- 
risprudence. What was there in the English laws worth 
preserving, which the good people of these states did not 
preserve ? And what laws have the British parliament en- 
acted since our independence, which our government have 
refused to imitate because they were British ? The whole 
history of changes and revolutions in the forms of govern- 
ment, will go to shew that the tendency in the public mind 
is to retain ancient laws and customs. Have we not a 
striking example of this in the Jews who embraced the 
gospel, who could not be prevailed upon to give up the 
Levitical ritual, even by apostolical argument and eloquence. 
In Louisiana and Hayti, not the common law of England, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 321 

but the code de Napoleon has been adopted : and it is pro- 
bable that the Mexican and South American republics, will 
copy more of their laws from Spain than from France or 
England. Laws are changed by foreign conquest and emi- 
gration, rather than by revolutions or constitutional changes 
in governments. The old Romans extended their laws by 
colonization in the conquered countries ; and the barba- 
rians who conquered the empire transplanted themselves 
and their customs, and thus suspended the Roman laws. 
Our brethren are no doubt quite serious in believing, that 
lay delegates will lead to a change in all the rules of disci- 
pline, because they cannot conceive how the form of disci- 
pline can be maintained without exclusive power in travel- 
ling preachers. Their sincerity, however, was equalled by 
that of the opposers of our national independence, who 
believed, that with the loss of kingly power the common 
law of England would be lost forever. They too could not 
conceive how laws which had been administered for hun- 
dreds of years in the name of the king, could be respected 
and enforced for their own sakes. It was not the majesty 
of the laws which they revered so much as the majesty of 
the king. The tendency of all absolute principles of go- 
vernments, is, to make the ministers of justice, more fearful 
than justice itself. 

It is now forty years since the common law of England 
has been reduced into practice in this country, without the 
name of a king, and at this day, the principle of attachment 
and obedience to the laws in the great body of the people, 
is quite as strong as it ever was among the English people. 
Those men who are so confident in their own minds, of the 
destructive effects of lay delegation upon the discipline, 
are in duty bound to state to us the mode of the operation. 
A delegate, it is well known, is the servant of his constitu- 
ents, and if he betrays his trust, may be left at home, and 
thus deprived of the power of misrepresentation. Let the 
question be put to any one among us, in or out of the mi- 
nistry, opposed to lay delegation ; do you believe that there 
ever will be a time, when a number of lay delegates may 
be found in any General Conference, large enough to move 
together simultaneously, so as to secure a majority of votes 
against any rule of Methodist discipline ? and will not the 
answer be in the negative ? The thing is incredible — it is 
impossible. For if the lay delegates were an actual ma- 
jority of the General Conference, they could not at any one 



322 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

election, be all chosen by the members of the church, for 
the express purpose of changing any old rule, in opposition 
to the travelling preachers. An attempt to innovate, if 
made at all by the lay delegates, could only be made at 
most for the first time by a few, the matter of course would 
then take wind : and is it to be supposed that the travelling 
preachers would all sleep, or remain tongue-tied until the 
next General Conference ? They would have four years 
to secure a sufficient number of delegates to place them- 
selves in a majority, supposing them not to be a majority 
on this particular question. But the truth is, that the lay 
delegates, under the most favorable circumstances, would 
never be able to out vote the preachers ; and it betrays 
something worse than inattention, for brethren to urge 
danger from this quarter. A body of men who have the 
use of the pulpit, have no great cause to complain of the 
want of power, for the pulpit itself is an engine of great 
power. 

Are we not borne out in our position, that the same laws 
may exist under a monarchical and a republican form of 
government: and in a country which has changed one of 
these forms for the other? The example is at home, it is 
before our eyes. Is there a monarchist, who will stand 
forth before the American people to prove, that they cannot 
have, cannot make, or cannot execute as good laws as any 
monarchy in the universe ? Men may slander and back- 
bite the republican form of government, but they can pro- 
duce none more potent in doing good. Let any monarchy 
exhibit laws better than those we have ; and we will follow 
the example. But it will be said, that no parallel can be 
run between a civil and a religious government. Why do 
not brethren speak out ? Why do they not tell us what 
they mean ? For really if they mean any thing, it is, that 
no form of government in the church is right, save the mo- 
narchical or the hierarchical one. 

It will, however, be asked by way of retort, if the same 
laws may exist under the two different forms of administra- 
tion, why a wish should be entertained for a changer The 
answer is, that men are not governed by laws or morals 
only, manners and opinions, are scarcely less influential, 
The monarchical and the republican forms of government, 
have their own peculiar manners and opinions: under the 
most equitable system of laws, manners and opinions may 
be very inequitable. The agents and ministers of mo-> 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 323 

narchs, whether civil or religious, in passing to and from 
court like comets, are observed to shine with greater lustre 
after they pass their perihelion. The governor returns to 
the province under a new excitement of loyalty. The la- 
tent energies of power are wonderfully quickened by royal 
interviews. The same process is observable under hierar- 
chies ; the subordinate agents rise in importance, accord- 
ing to the attention which they receive from above. When 
it comes to be known, that a reverend gentleman was most 
graciously received at the spiritual court, will not his respect 
be increased within and withoui ! 

Before our revolution, the governors of the provinces, 
where the representatives of majesty, and the seats of the 
provincial governments, were as the court of St. James in 
miniature. Are not our travelling elders, as the shadow of 
the wings of the bishops ? We are opposed to the manners 
and the opinions which all absolute principles in church go- 
vernment, have a tendency to produce. It is inherent in 
the nature of all governments, to beget ambition ; for they 
are the centre-points of power and honor. Instead of re- 
buking, or encouraging ambition in any society, civil, or 
religious, we think it should be directed towards the source 
and fountain-head of liberty. All the power, all the 
honor, which the people can give, consistently with their 
rights and liberties, their servants may lawfully seek and 
enjoy. The ambition of the human heart, can only be 
matched by the liberties of the people ; and the one, is the 
measure of the other. Is it required to be known how 
much liberty is necessary under any government ; the an- 
swer will be, just so much, as to check and control, the 
ambition of every man, in and out of office. Mr. Wesley 
had no difficulty, in finding a hundred men, on whom to 
devolve his power : and Mr. Asbury, though he failed in 
his council project, found no serious scruples among the 
preachers, in taking all the law-making power, from the 
people. How is this to be accounted for ? Very easily. 
If the English and American preachers had been taught 
to look to the people, for power and honor, not one of a 
hundred of them, would have taken the crown of supre- 
macy. Alas ! for these men, they had been taught to be- 
lieve that the church was made to be governed, and they 
were made, for its governors ; and their manners have 
proved to be, not discordant with their opinions. Travel- 
ling preachers must be grievously beset with ambition ; 



324 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

they are destined to covet more power, or to fear and 
tremble for the loss of what they have, until they are taught 
to respect the power of the church : but then, and not till 
then, will all their temptation vanish away, like a shadow. 

Palemon. 



Volume iii. of Mutual Rights begins August, 1826. 

Notice of the expulsion of Reformers in Granville circuit, North 
Carolina, appears November, 1826. 

A convention for Maryland and the District of Columbia, was held 
in Baltimore, November" 15, 16, 1826. 

Rev. Mr. Bascom appears again as a writer in December, 1826. 

Timothy (the Rev'd George Brown) addresses the Junior Bishop, 
December, 1826. 



No. 57. 

Mutal Rights, vol. iii. February, 1827, page 169. 

An abridgement of a Sermon, delivered before the Maryland 
Convention of Reformers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
in the English Lutheran Church in Lexington street, Balti- 
more — by the Rev. Nicholas Snethen. 

"For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." 

Eph. v. 30. 

Very important results have been anticipated from the 
conversion of the Jews to Christianity. As this is an event 
clearly predicted in the New Testament, divines look for- 
ward to its accomplishment, as to the final triumph of re- 
velation over infidelity. But it seems to us, that several of 
the ancient opinions of the Jews are still maintained in our 
churches ; we therefore calculate upon consequences 
scarcely less favorable to the internal state of religion, from 
the conversion of that people, than to the external relations 
of infidelity. We have thought that we could trace the 
non-redemption and non-atonement doctrines, so earnestly 
inculcated by many modern divines, to the Jewish church. 
The opinions which appear to have prevailed among the 
Jews, respecting the external and temporal glories of the 
Messiah's kingdom, cannot, it is evident, be reconciled 
with those prophecies which relate to his sufferings and 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 325 

death. It seems doubtful, if it were generally supposed 
that the Messiah was to die at all ; or if it were the pre- 
vailing belief that all the legal sacrifices must be perpetuat- 
ed, proves that little or no redeeming merit was attached 
to his death. The hopes of the Jews were directed to the 
actions, and not to the sufferings of their expected deli- 
verer. The preaching of the cross became a stumbling 
block to them, not merely because that was the instrument 
of his suffering, but because the preachers contended that 
his sufferings were necessary, and that there could be no 
redemption without the merits of his blood. Although the 
pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead, they did 
not apply it to the Messiah, or suppose it necessary to his 
office. The opinions of the twelve disciples were proba- 
bly identical, with those of their countrymen in general, 
and we know how they were disconcerted and perplexed 
when the master began to foretell to them the tragical 
events which were soon to transpire at Jerusalem. The 
chief priests and our rulers (said they) delivered him to be 
condemned to death, and have crucified him ; but we trusted 
that it had been he that would have redeemed Israel. Did 
they not then trust that he would have redeemed Israel 
without blood ? The resurrection was an event no less 
unexpected by them : Yea, they add, and certain women 
also of our company, made us astonished, when they were 
early at the sepulchre ; and when they found not his body, 
they came, saying, that they had seen a vision of angels, 
who said that he was alive. And beginning at Moses, and 
all the prophets, he (Christ) expounded unto them, in all 
the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Now, if the 
hypothesis that the writers of the New Testament did not 
mean to inculcate the vicarious sufferings and death of the 
Messiah, be the true one, what was the point in contro- 
versy between them and their Jewish opponents ? It seems 
to us, that it must have been more ideal than real ; more 
about words than things. And we cannot but think, that, 
those who go to Paul for testimony to prove that Christ did 
not die for our sins, might find more evidence in favor of 
this opinion in Paul, the disciple of Gamaliel, the pharisee, 
than in Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ; in Paul, who 
verily thought he ought to do many things contrary to the 
name of Jesus of Nazareth, than in Paul who counted all 
things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus his Lord ; for whom he had suffered the loss 
28 



326 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

of all things, and did count them but dung, that he might 
win Christ, and be found in him, not having on his own 
righteousness, which was of the law, but that which is 
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of 
God by faith. 

The resemblance between our christian hierarchies and 
the ancient Jewish priesthood, has been pointed out by 
many writers; and these writers have not failed to shew 
how much more congenial a hierarchy is, to the outward 
and temporal glories of an earthly kingdom, than to the 
kingdom of God which is within us. 

Almost all that tenacity of outward forms and ceremo- 
nies, and all that prejudice against inward spiritual religion, 
still characteristic of many christians, may also be traced to 
the same Jewish source. How conld the doctors of the law, 
with all their previous conceptions of the national glories 
of the Messiah's reign, comprehend this membership of his 
body, and his bones? 

If then so many of our distinctive opinions have been 
derived from the Jews, may we not anticipate consequences 
highly favorable to the cause of truth, in the church from 
their conversion ! 

When this people shall be convinced of the inefficacy of 
the legal sacrifices, and shall say with St. Paul, God forbid 
that I should glory in any sacrifice, save that which Christ 
made upon the cross ; when they shall exchange all ideas 
of high priests who are not suffered to continue by reason 
of death, for the unchangeable priesthood of the tribe of 
Judah ; when they shall say with their evangelical country- 
men, "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any 
thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." When 
the offence of the cross among them shall have ceased, and 
the preaching of the meritorious sacrifice of the Messiah's 
death, shall no longer be a stumbling block unto them, will 
it not cease to appear like foolishness to our modern chris- 
tian Greeks ? With such advocates in favor of the merits 
of Christ's death, will not his death become the strongest 
evidence of his divinity ? When all Israel shall be saved, 
and not perhaps till then, may we look for that unity of 
faith and worship among christians, so much to be desired. 
From certain analogies that we have observed, it appears 
to us, highly probable, that the spiritual glories of Christ's 
kingdom, must be reflected from the Jewish church, before 
they will be universally realized among gentile christians. 



SNETHENON LAY REPRESENTATION. 327 

This spiritual or mystic union, between Christ and believers, 
is called by the apostle a great mystery. And it is evi- 
dently inexplicable, upon any system from which the meri- 
torious death and resurrection of Christ is excluded. In- 
deed, it is called expressly, the marriage of the lamb ; but 
with a dead lamb ; with a sacrifice that was annihilated 
upon the altar, whatever might be supposed to be its merit, 
there could be no marriage, no spiritual union. How could 
we become members of such a body ; of such flesh and 
bones ? Our mystical union with Christ, consists in the 
exercise of faith, hope, and love. But if Jesus Christ had 
not died for our sins ; if there were no atoning merit in his 
blood, he would not be a proper object for the faith of a 
penitent. The legal sacrifices would be more attractive to 
a guilty sinner seeking pardon, than a Messiah without 
merit. But the victim, which expires on the altar to live 
no more, however strong and lively our faith may have been 
in him, ceases to challenge our confidence. For every 
new offence, the law itself provided a new sacrifice, and 
contemplates that they shall be perpetual, and in succes- 
sion. No system could be so unreasonable as to require of 
us an exercise of faith, and hope, and love, in a dead sacri- 
fice. On this point, the author of the epistle to the Corin- 
thians is explicit: "If Christ (says he) be not raised, your 
faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins/' 

There is great beauty, tenderness and delicacy, in these 
allusions of the apostle, to the divine institution of mar- 
riage. Our spiritual union is with the risen Messiah, over 
whom death hath no more dominion ; and this union is 
common to all believers, not peculiar to the ministers or 
office bearers of the church. But if we are all members 
of his body, are we not members one of another? Must 
not this consequence follow of course ? Is not a common 
membership in Christ's body, the true basis of all christian 
fellowship ? 

The text may be fairly divided into two separate subjects 
of consideration. 

1. The union of all believers with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

2. The union of all believers among themselves. To the 
first we have already paid some attention. We will now 
proceed to the second. 

As in the first creation there were benefits conferred on 
all men, on the whole race, and not on any particular or 
distinct order of men ; so in the new creation, or the cove- 



328 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 

nant of grace, there are blessings common to all believers, 
and not to any particular part of them. These common 
blessings, nevertheless, are characteristic, but in a general 
sense only. They distinguish believers from unbelievers. 
Man is said to have been made in the image of God. Not 
that a part of the race was so made, placing the part so dis- 
tinguished above another part which was not made in his 
image. Not a few in preference to the many ; but all men 
in preference to all other animals. This image or likeness, 
is moral and intellectual. All christian teachers agree in 
this, and in excluding from our conceptions of the image of 
God, every idea of body or parts. As man was appointed 
to govern — to have dominion, he must needs be supposed 
to have been created with attributes for that purpose, — to 
have been created in the image of the great Ruler of all. 
The authority to govern, without the knowledge how or 
what to govern, is useless ; and without moral principle, it 
may become mischievous. Now the authority to govern is 
common to the whole race, and not specially the preroga- 
tive of any family or individual. If any one were question- 
ed on this point, were he asked why he presumed to exer- 
cise dominion over other animals, would he not refer to the 
history of the creation ? And were he further questioned 
respecting the origin of his ability to maintain his domin- 
ion, would he not again refer to the same high authority? 
Would he not maintain the superior dignity of his creation? 
And if he were opposed upon the hypothesis that the divine 
image belongs not to the whole race, but only to a few fa- 
vored individuals, would he not contend that it was bestow- 
ed upon the universal parent, and is, of course, the common 
inheritance of all his offspring? 

All our divines, who hold that the moral and intellectual 
powers of man suffered by the fall, agree that they are to be 
restored by grace. We follow out the analogy, and main- 
tain, that in so far as the lost or effaced image of God is re- 
stored by the covenant of grace, it is restored to all belie- 
vers generally, and not to any special part of them. And 
we would ask those who monopolize the legislative power 
of the church, in what the image of God consists in those 
souls who are thus lorded over by them ? Is this image con- 
ferred on one order of christians, to make laws for other or- 
ders, while they partake of it in common with them ? All ar- 
guments in favor of equality, must be predicated upon the 
unity and community of attributes, whether in nature orgrace, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 329 

As this discourse is primarily intended for the members 
of this convention, and the professed object of this meet- 
ing, is to take measures to petition the General Conference, 
to obtain a participation in the legislative power, we feel 
justified in speaking freely and directly upon the subject of 
ministerial, and ecclesiastical power; should our right be 
questioned, as members of the church, to meet in this man- 
ner and for this purpose, our answer maybe supplied by the 
text ; " We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his 
bones." We claim the privilege to exercise this right, because 
we belong to the general class of believers ; because legisla- 
tive attributes are not an exclusive gift of creation, or of re- 
generation ; and because the ministry of the gospel is not 
established on the hierarchical principles of the priesthood 
under the law. 

But the fact is, my brethren, that even the priesthood 
which was under the law, neither claimed, nor exercised 
any exclusive legislative authority. And in all protestant 
countries, in which church and state are united, the laity 
have some share in the law making power, either as subjects 
or as magistrates. Let it be well considered, that if we are 
members of Christ's body ; if we are citizens of the com- 
monwealth of Israel ; if we are of the household of faith; 
and heirs together, of the same promises, it is no small mat- 
ter to deprive us of the exercise of one of our most impor- 
tant rights. The church of Jesus Christ is a glorious 
church. Christ "loved it, and gave himself for it, that he 
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by 
the word, that he might, present it to himself, a glorious 
church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but 
that it should be holy, and without blemish." The church 
of Christ is a free church. The Son of God hath made it 
free indeed. "Jerusalem which is from above, is the mother 
of us all." "We are not the children of the bond woman, 
but of the free." 

Liberty and equality among believers, is a theme on which 
apostles delighted to dwell. We cannot mistake their 
meaning, for they taught that the gospel "broke down the 
middle wall of partition — took away the hand writing which 
was against us, and contrary to us ;" "that it made of twain 
one new man, so making peace;" and that it "brought 
those nigh who were sometimes afar off," making all belie- 
vers, of all nations and all conditions "one in Christ." 
28* 



330 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Here we will read to you the 3d chapter of the epistle to 
the Ephesians.* 

How is it possible to set the privileges of all christians in 
a stronger point of light. Again, in the fourth chapter, as 
far as the 16th verse ; we will read the whole passage. But 
to put this mutual and reciprocal relation of all believers, 
beyond all doubt and contradiction, we will also read the 
whole of the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians. Is it not evi- 
dent to you, that all the diversities of gifts, all the differ- 
ences of administration, all the diversities of operations, 
are not only in the same body, the body of Christ, of which 
we are members ; but that the agents and operators them- 
selves belong to this body as members, and not as heads. 
All the offices, from that of the apostles down, are set in 
the church, and they are all ministerial. Not one among 
them is sovereign. But to make laws for men, or for chris- 
tians without their representatives, is the highest possible act 
of sovereignty. I know, my brethren, it has been argued 
that the travelling preachers are indirectly the representa- 
tives of the church. But in point of fact and form, the 
General Conference is placed at a distance, the most re- 
mote from the church. All the members of the annual con- 
ferences must serve a probation of two years, and undergo 
three elections of itinerant preachers, and then they elect 
one seventh part of their own number, to compose a Gene- 
ral Conference, togetherwith their presiding bishop, chosen 
by themselves for life. How church legislators can be more 
independent of the church, or less accountable to the peo- 
ple, we cannot conceive. If this law making office is min- 
isterial, in relation to the members of the church, then we 
do not understand the meaning of the word ministerial, and 
we are no less ignorant of the word sovereign. Do the men 
who are born, as they believe, to govern those who exist 
under the political and religious establishment of the eastern 
"Casts" make a much greater distinction between the rulers 
and the ruled, than our travelling preachers do, between the 
rule makers and those for whom the rules are made ? Have 
they not placed a gulph between them, which it is thought 
almost as impious and presumptuous to attempt to pass, as 
that between the rich man and Lazarus? 

As friends of reform, or advocates for the right of repre- 

*Here we necessarily lose much of the fine comment made at the 
time of delivering the discourse. 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 331 

sentation in the church, we have been accused of ambition, 
The most serious charges of this kind have been urged 
against your speaker. Some have said, that he aspires after 
the highest offices. How little, my brethren, do these men 
know of my views of the dignity of the christian calling? How 
little do they understand the value I attach to the relation I 
hold to my Redeemer as a member of his body, &c. How 
insignificant is the title of bishop, or arch-bishop, in my es- 
timation, when compared with that of king and priest unto 
God ? My brethren, I am not conscious of any higher am- 
bition than this. The greatest dignity and distinction I can 
conceive of, I have in common with you and with all be- 
lievers. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Head, hath loved 
us, and washed us from our sins, in his own blood, and made 
us kings and priests unto God and his Father. 

And now brethren, I declare to you, that there is no one 
action of my life, upon which I have reflected more delibe- 
rately, than the taking a part in this convention, and there is 
no one among them, within my recollection, of which I find 
a more conscientious approval in my own breast. That I 
am acting up to my privilege and my duty, and not beyond 
them, I have no doubt. As a believer in the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; as a christian, not to say a minister, I am fully per- 
suaded in my own mind, that I have a right to be present 
personally, or by my representative, in the law making de- 
partment of the church, of which I am a member. 

The office of a representative, in a legislative body is 
strictly ministerial. The man that is sent is not greater 
than the sender. While the church is legislated for without 
its representatives, to say the least of it, it is in its nonage, 
and is under tutors and governors. The danger of this state 
of things can no more be concealed, than the humiliation. 
We look in vain among absolute legislators for those sym- 
pathies and fellow feelings, so finely described in the 12th 
of 1st Corinthians. The whole history of this monopoly 
goes to prove, that when men make laws for themselves 
and others, if their own interests and the interests of those 
for whom they legislate come in collision, the former pre- 
vails over the latter. God knows, and every body knows, 
how much misery and calamity have been entailed on the 
church and the world, by the exclusive legislation of priests ; 
and while human nature continues true to itself, we have no 
reason to expect that it will be otherwise. Concerning the 
operations and the effects of the power of our own General 



332 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Conference, we could say much ; but lest we might, by the 
strength of our excitements, be tempted to speak unad- 
visedly with our lips, we have habitually restrained our 
feelings, and we restrain them now. We know, that go- 
vernment is necessary to the peace and well being of every 
community ; and happy will it be for those who administer 
the govornment of any church, if when the master shall 
come to call them to account, they shall be found in the ca- 
pacity of servants, and not of lords of God's heritage. 



TSo. 58. 

Mutual Rights, vol. iii. March, 1827, pp. 181, 184, 186, 239. 

Reflections by Spectator, in four numbers. 

No. 1. 

Our old side men conceive, that an opposition to repre- 
sentation gives them a title to all that is primitive and Wes 
leyan in Methodism. And I feel persuaded in my mind, 
that if Mr. Wesley were now living in the United States, 
in the existing state of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
he would have no objection to the extension of the princi- 
ple of representation to the members of the church. Mr. 
Wesley has left behind him the most abundant evidence, 
that he w r as governed by circumstances; or in other words, 
that he suffered himself to be instructed by unforseen events. 
Lay preachers, and itinerancy, and class meetings, and or- 
dinations for America, were predicated on unforseen events. 
The present state of the Methodist Episcopal Church was 
not forseen, — not anticipated by him. He opposed suffrage 
and representation in the members of his society, it is true ; 
but how could he have done otherwise and been consistent 
with himself, unless he had granted them to the preachers 
also? While he put nothing to vote among the preachers 
in the conferences, it was not to be expected that the pri- 
vate members should be permitted to vote. Mr. Wesley 
blamed his general superintendents, for allowing the Ame- 
rican preachers to vote. And it is due to Mr. Asbury to 
acknowledge, that though he was the first to offend, and 
thus procured his own election, he did all he could, to ren- 
der the practice null and void. The council-plan will for- 
ever remain a proof of this. But finding that nothing short 
of the right of suffrage and representation, would satisfy the 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 333 

preachers, he granted the principle and yielded to its ope- 
ration, as far as it regarded them. Before these events, Mr. 
Wesley's name had disappeared=from the American minutes, 
and he was no longer numbered among the living. I was 
ignorant of Mr. Asbury's sentiments, about a representative 
General Conference, when I broached the subject to him. 
We discussed the subject between ourselves, and it was 
agreed, that I should support it in the General Conference. 
The motion, however, was lost by a large majority ; and 
when it was carried, (1808,) I was no longer a member of 
the General Conference. I will not take upon me to say, 
that Mr. Asbury had not the plan in his own mind, when I 
first made known to him my thoughts on the subject. It is 
enough to know, that it was not his first plan, to have any 
General Conference. The same may be said, of the manner 
of trying members; it was not Mr. Wesley's; it was not his 
American superintendants' ; it did not obtain in the Gene- 
ral Conferences of I7£2 nor 1796. 

Mr. Wesley innovated in principle, and practice ; so did 
his general superintendants, in this country; and so have 
the General Conferences. It is of no consequence, to say, 
that Mr. Wesley never granted lay representation ; for he 
did not allow the itinerant preachers a suffrage, in the choice 
of men or measures. The question is, if he had granted 
the principle to itinerant preachers, would he have restricted 
it to them, to the exclusion of the local preachers and the 
laity? I think he would not, for the same reason that he 
granted it to neither. Moreover, it is well known, that, the 
refusal of the right of suffrage to the preachers and mem- 
bers by Mr. Wesley, as well as many other peculiarities in 
his economy, was predicated on his and their relation to the 
church of England ; the national church, of which the king 
was the head. But in the present entire state of indepen- 
dence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, none of Mr, 
Wesley's fears of separation, &c. can have any place. 

Now it is evident, to my mind, from the manner of speak- 
ing and writing, among old side men, that they seem not to 
be aware of the fact, that the General Conference itself, has 
conceded and sanctioned the principle of representation ; 
and that they cannot refuse it to the church, now, on any 
other ground than that of mere arbitrary power. So little 
do they reflect on this matter, that they do not suspect it to 
be incumbent on them, to produce Mr. Wesley's authority 
for the present organization of the General Conference, be- 



334 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

fore they can make it purely and exclusively Wesleyan. 
If the itinerant preachers in this country, had asked Mr. 
Wesley to grant them the right of suffrage and representa- 
tion, he might have answered, that it would introduce new 
principles into Methodism. Did they ask, did they petition 
even the father of Methodism himself? They did not ; and, 
so far from it, when he sent them another superintendant, 
they not only rejected him, but in an uncerimonious manner, 
dispensed with the old patriarch's name itself. We should 
have high times, if new side men, should do with the names 
of the present bishops, as the itinerant preachers once did 
with the name of John Wesley, A. M. There is a story, 
in the bible, of ancestors, who slew the prophets, and their 
successors who garnished their sepulchres. Is there any 
resemblance between that case and the eulogies of the ven- 
erable name, by the men, who are reaping the precious fruits 
of the acts of those who procured its erasure from the 
American minutes? When American itinerant preachers 
desired to vote, they did not send all the way to England to 
obtain leave. Wei!, what reason do they give why laymen 
should not vote with thern? Why forsooth, dear, good old 
Mr. Wesley was not. willing that laymen should vote. Ah! 
but he was not willing that itinerant pieachers should vote, 
and yet they did vote themselves independent of him, and 
continue to this day to vote independent of every body 
else. 

Old side brethren seem to feel the greatest self-compla- 
cency, in supposing that they are for all the world like Mr. 
Wesley. But suppose that new side men should attempt 
to imitate the actions of Mr. Wesley in some striking points. 
Why may not they, as well as Mr. Wesley, preach out of 
doors, if they are shut out of the churches ? Why may they 
not like him, too, build houses, raise congregations, have 
stationed and itinerant preachers, make collections, and 
even ordain, &c? Will the mere accidental circumstance, 
that their object is representation, destroy all resemblance 
between his conduct and theirs? When Mr. Wesley found, 
that a lawful thing was expedient, he would not refuse to do 
it. May not good examples be followed ? Is it not both 
lawful and expedient, to save even "a few local preachers 
and laymen ? St. Paul seemed to think so, when he became 
all things to all men. When Mr. Wesley refused to let his 
preachers and members vote, he said he did them no wrong 
as they held their old church relation. But this is not true 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 335 

of the members of other churches who join the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, they lose their religious suffrage and 
representation. Is it expedient, is it wise, to place over the 
doors of a church, as a motto, no suffrage — no repre- 
sentation here! Some it is true, may "stipulate" to come 
in under these conditions, and thus gain the right of non- 
resistance and passive obedience; but numbers of others 
surely will not. 

No. II. 

A story has gotten into circulation, that the Rev. Enoch 
George, bishop (one of the bishops) of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, in a late visit to the banks of the Potomac, 
having come from the northern province of Methodism ; — 
for, like mother church, we have two episcopal provinces. 
The story is, that brother George ; — I mean not, to write 
and publish what I please, but what I hear; — the bishop 
was pleased to say, that, so long as he can find twelve 
itinerant preachers to join him, he will resist lay delegation ; 
or words to that effect. Could he do so without making a 
division in the church ? And this is one of the men to 
whom the reformers are going to petition. It may stand 
thus on the journal of the General Conference: — Bishop 
George in the chair — a petition was presented and read, 
praying for lay representation, &,c. &c. No matter, it 
seems, by what arguments the petition may be urged — no 
matter how many laymen may be in favor of it — no matter 
how many bishops and itinerant preachers vote for it ; — if 
Mr. George can find twelve itinerant preachers, we may 
expect to see "the non-jurors" acted over again. This, to 
be sure, might be all right, in a bishop and twelve itinerant 
preachers. But the rule would not work both ways, for if 
local preachers and laymen should do likewise, no one 
would complain more loudly than brother George. 

When the old mysteries were celebrated, the prophets 
used to cry out, "procul, procul !" &c. that is, hence, far 
hence, ye profane ! meaning the uninitiated. Are there 
any mysteries and secrets in the General Conference, with 
which laymen may not be entrusted ? From the extreme 
aversion of some old side men, to lay representation, one 
is almost tempted to suspect, that they view it as a sort of 
sacrilege. 

Now if the time had not gone by, for one to wonder at 
any thing in man, I should wonder at this expression in 



336 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

my old friend. I want no stronger proof of the impor- 
tance of lay delegation, than this case of the dear old man 
himself. There is real danger on this vast continent, of 
men travelling themselves wild, quite wild. You see here, 
gentle reader, a specimen of itinerant ideas ; and did you 
ever see any thing more extravagant, more ridiculous ? 
This said brother George, is by nature, one of the most 
cautious and modest of men. Indeed we used to complain 
that he was timid to excess; and now what a transforma- 
tion ! He makes no secret of a mighty purpose, of fight- 
ing against lay representation, with twelve men. It would 
be an entertaining spectacle, to see the free, sovereign, and 
independent citizens and church men of our country, re- 
nouncing all their claims to religious suffrage and represen- 
tation, and flying to bishop George and his twelve apostles, 
to place themselves as mutes, under their government. Ah 
the good man's notions have become too itinerant, too des- 
potic. The presence of local men in the General Confer- 
ence, with their local ideas, would no doubt have prevented 
this. I know, indeed, some local preachers and some lay 
members, who have made no secret of their purpose, to 
leave the church, if lay representation should ever obtain. 
But this is not strange. Some men are born with an in- 
herent propensity to pander to power. The elements of 
liberty, minister no genial excitement to them. But Enoch 
George is no flatterer ; on men in power he never fawns. 
The time was, when our spirits felt kindred, and we inter- 
changed the sweet sentiments of liberty. ! how it grieves 
me, to hear of his bitter enmity to the good cause. How 
could I have believed, that my friend would have refused to 
others, that, which is so dear to himself; — that palladium of 
every man's freedom — the sacred right of suffrage. When he 
suffered from the authority of men in power, and complain- 
ed of its insolence, I sympathised with him. One effect of 
this contest, it seems, is certain ; it will serve to develope 
the principles of men ; the inherent love of power; and 
the love to flatter it, will be found where we least expected. 
It will be demonstrated how much itinerant power has done 
for the cause of liberty among our countrymen. 

If report has misrepresented Mr. George's words or sen- 
timents, I should rejoice to find it so. The pages of the 
Mutual Rights are open for his vindication. But if he be 
still as much as ever opposed to the principles of lay repre- 
sentation, whether he avows it or not, he will find in me, at 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 337 

all limes, a firm, inflexible, though not ungenerous, oppo- 
nent. The principles of this controversy, as one of our co- 
workers expresses it, run deep into Christianity. 

Brother George has fallen into the common error of esti- 
mating these matters by numbers, and in numbers he feels 
secure. My reliance, from the beginning has been upon 
principle. When I first began to write, I had but one col- 
league. Why will not brother George, why will not all our 
opponents, reflect upon the march of principle ? Opposi- 
tion, to the cause of representation, will melt away in the 
General Conference itself. The men who believe, do not 
make haste. The light of truth is progressive. It is pas- 
sion that is always in a hurry. The advancement of the 
cause of reform, has all the marks of the advancement of 
truth ; it is like those clouds which raise themselves aloft 
against the under current of air. 

No. III. 

In our two first numbers, we have shewn that Methodists 
are not accustomed to yield a favorite principle, to scruples 
of conscience about church matters. We have seen Mr. 
Wesley, his superintendants, the American itinerant preach- 
ers, bishop George, and old side men, ready to put the unity 
of church in jeopardy, when matters approach to a crisis. 
Examples are contagious. The example in this case, goes 
to make circumstances yield to opinions, or become subser- 
vient to them. If even Mr. himself, (we shall have 

his name bye and bye) will leave the church, should a lay 
delegation be granted, can he object, if the advocates for 
the principle should do any thing short of this, in the event 
of their disappointment ? Many of our brethren, as is com- 
monly the case, are cautious and timid. Their opponents 
will teach them courage ; and courage will procure them 
friends. The declaration of a bishop, which we alluded to 
in our preceding number, will be heard and read with much 
interest, by many who have heretofore let the subject pass, 
without going into the merits of it. Laymen will be led to 
examine the grounds of this distinction, between itinerant 
preachers and themselves. How great will be their sur- 
prise, to find that the exclusive suffrage and representation 
of itinerant preachers, are both of their own creation. 
Hitherto the main point in discussion has been ordination ; 
and it is well known, that several of the churches in this 
29 



338 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

country, do not, to this day, acknowledge the validity of 
ordination, even amongst itinerant preachers ; and consider 
them all, from the bishop to the deacon, as nothing more 
than lay preachers. And yet, heedless of all this, these 
men are flaunting their clerical powers and prerogatives in 
the faces of laymen ; there is an indiscretion in this con- 
duct, which cannot be vindicated. Is nothing due to the 
members of the church, from men to whom they have ad- 
hered under all their discouragements ? The clergymen 
who have no fellowship with them, would take any of our 
laymen into their churches and restore to them the right of 
suffrage. 

But this matter will be passed by, and the members of 
the church will meet their itinerant preachers on other 
ground. They will prove to them, they will demonstrate 
to them, that Mr. Wesley, though he gave them ordination, 
never gave them suffrage, never gave them representation. 
They will demand of them, by what authority, human or 
divine, they exclude laymen from the General Conference? 
And in the sequel, this question will be found to assume 
an importance, greater than any connected with the history 
of Methodism. Our leading men are blinded ; they are 
infatuated, not to say intoxicated with their own imaginary 
consequence. They will know, when it may be too late, 
their best friends. At no distant day, many a bitter regret 
will be felt that this discussion was provoked ; and the only 
refuge and safety of the church, will be found in lay repre- 
sentation. But there are a few more floating straws for the 
drowning men to catch at. And besides, all eyes are now 

turned towards Dr. 's book. From that learned and 

profound divine, considering the lights he has to aid him, 
much indeed is to be expected and much to be feared. 
One thing, gentle reader, is certain ; his erudite labors will 
give the subject greater publicity. The attention of the 
Methodist public and the American public, will be more 
and more turned towards lay representation, and it will, 
finally, be regarded as inferior only in interest, to our politi- 
cal franchise itself. A people circumstanced as we have 
been, are not only below public notice, but almost below 
public contempt. What would America have been in the 
estimation of nations, had she quietly taken on the yoke of 
taxation. It was by reviving the great question of repre- 
sentation that she not only, raised herself to distinction, 
among the nations, but afforded them new lights to guide 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 339 

them in the path of liberty. The book to which we have 
alluded, we have reason to believe, has been considerably 
circulated in manuscript; we have heard from second and 
third hands, much eulogy on it. The distinguished author, 
it is said, thinks that our success would have been greater, 
if we had had less of flesh and blood to contend against 
and more of intellect. Now I can assure him of one thing 
as it regards myself, individually ; if I know any thing of 
my own heart, I have not too much pride nor prejudice, 
to be convinced by him, and that is saying much, as he 
knows full well, that he has not been sparing in means to 
rouse and aggravate both. But so sure as his book shall 
prove to be in any measure, as I expect it will be, let him 
look out for something more than "visionary theories." 

If his book cannot be answered, I will be among the first 
to proclaim him victor ; — if it can be, he must prepare to 
pay up all old arrears due to the cause of reform. The 
cause is great, and the stake is great. This brother at arms 
has the advantage "of sun and wind." The ground has 
been familiar to him from the beginning. He has been in 
our citadel, and is acquainted with our camp. If he means 
to spring a mine, his leisure and security in preparing it has 
been ample. The choice of his weapons and of the time, 
the place, and manner of attack, are all his own. Every 
eye, therefore, it may be presumed, will be turned to the 
issue of the mighty contest of ink and paper. 

No. IV. 

Our complaint of Dr. — is on an old score. The press is 
free : let him, if he pleases, publish what he writes. If he 
can confute reformers, his friends will do well to avail them- 
selves of the fruit of his pen. And though itinerant preach- 
ers might shut him out of the General Conference, (were 
he to petition,) I commend them for letting him write for 
them, if he can write better than they can. We may not 
anticipate his book; but as his name is among the ^under- 
signed" is there not reason to suspect that the item about 
the missionary character, &c. holds some conspicious place 
in it. We have the names of twenty-four brethren for it, 
that lay representation must necessarily destroy this cha- 
racter. 

The idea of missionary character is not new. A good 
name is better than precious ointment : or to use a more 



340 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

homely adage, "When a man's name is up, he may go to 
bed." So we have missionaries, and our ministry has a 
missionary character ; but the office and the character do 
not necessarily meet in the same persons. A B and C have 
not been on the saddle bags for ten years; and, like the 
mitered man of the poet, they may have "gone to kennel 
ne'er to bark again" as missionaries ; and yet their mission- 
ary character, must remain entire. How is this! So here is 
the demonstration! Their missionary character, cannot ne- 
cessarily be destroyed, unless lay representatives are admit- 
ted into the General Conference. It were to be wished, 
that it were consistent with the dignity of the office of the 
twenty-four grand jurors, to condescend to explain to us the 
mode of operation ; but as it is not, we must be contented with 
their assertion. Must the ministers of the gospel, necessarily 
cease to go from one station to another, if the members of 
the church are represented in the legislature of the church, 
or in other words, must the ministers of the gopsel cease to 
travel circuits, unless the legislative and executive power 
over the church, remains exclusively in their own hands? 

Suppose the American itinerant preachers had been about 
to petition Mr. Wesley, to let them vote in conference, and 
twenty-four brethren, in the Baltimore station, had opposed 
them, because, if Mr. Wesley should allow them to vote, 
they must necessarily vote his name out of the American 
minutes, and so annihilate his authority over them. Now 
although they did in fact vote his name out of the minutes, 
what would the world think of such logic as this! Who but 
a necessitarian would think of arguing for the necessity of 
the consequence. 

In our conference matters, some order has sprung out of 
confusion. No period of the same duration in the history 
of any church, exhibits such a jumble of powers as ours 
did from 1784 to 1792. Since the latter date, the depart- 
ments and the powers began to be defined, and a represen- 
tative General Conference was organized under six restric- 
tions. It is now distinctly understood that the business of 
this body, with the exception of its appellate jurisdiction is 
exclusively legislative. This is the only example of the 
kind in the whole history of Methodism. And it is thus 
that the way is fairly prepared for lay representation. If all 
business were done as in England, in one conference, and 
as it was in the numerous and ever changing little district 
conferences before 1792; or if the General Conferences 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 341 

were composed of all the itinerant preachers or elders, as 
they were from 92 to 1808, great difficulties would be against 
lay representation. But in the General Conference, as its 
powers are now defined, executive, and other business can- 
not interfere with the legislative powers and prerogatives of 
the lay representatives. As we have said again and again, 
no new principle will be required, but merely the extension 
of those principles already in operation. No part of the 
business of the annual conferences would be interfered 
with. Those not immediately concerned would not perceive 
the change in our economy, and there is reason to believe, 
that the mutual confidence, which would be thus restored 
might prove so great, that for a series of years, the laity 
would think it hardly worth while to send representatives. 
In the consciousness that they have the shield of their pro- 
tection at their command, they would probably repose se- 
curely on it, while no attempt should be made to infringe 
upon their rights. 

But how the missionary character of our ministry must 
necessarily be destroyed by the presence of lay representa- 
tives, we are utterly unable to conceive ; unless the breth- 
ren suppose it will be done by contact or contagion. Do 
they suppose the itinerant preachers by associating with 
laymen, would as it were, lose "cast," or that "evil commu- 
nications will corrupt their good manners." Have they in 
their eye the maxim "A man is known by the company he 
keeps." Will the presence of lay representatives in the 
General Conference "defile that holy place." 

Methodist missionaries bear little resemblance to itinerant 
preachers. They are volunteers, not bound to go to the 
missionary stations, as the latter are to their circuits; not 
dependant upon the station for their support. In England, 
it should seem, that very kw of the old preachers in full 
connexion, go out as missionaries. These recruits are 
mostly from the local and probationary ranks. And if lay- 
men are kept out of the General Conference, I anticipate, 
that in the course of time, it will be so here. The men who 
can move their families from one furnished house to another 
once in two years, along turnpike roads, or in steam boats, 
will hardly manifest an extreme proneness to go to the Rocky 
Mountains and South America. Query. Did the brethren 
perceive some synonomy between missionary characters 
and pastoral power? Even the latter will not necessarily be 
destroyed by lay representation. 
29* 



342 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 59. 

Mutual Rights, vol. iii. May, 1827, page 249. 

An Address to the friends of Reform — by N. Snethen. 
Dear Brethren, 

You have heard of what was done in the bounds of the 
Virginia conference ; and will hear of the proceedings of 
the Baltimore annual conference, in the case of Dennis B. 
Dorsey. I notice this last case as proof of the fact, that 
the itinerant preachers have taken a stand against reform, 
or representation, which must change our relation to them. 
We are no longer to consider ourselves as standing upon 
the open and equal ground of argument with those bre- 
thren in behalf of a principle ; but as the supporters of what 
we conceive to be truth and right, opposed by power. From 
the beginning, I have considered the avoiding of written 
discussion by almost all the itinerant preachers on the old 
side, as ominous of this issue, and have not ceased to anti- 
cipate the time when a display of the plenary powers in 
their hands would in effect place us as lambs among wolves, 
and call upon us to be "wise as serpents and harmless as 
doves." 

I understand the text in its original application, "I send 
you forth as lambs among wolves," that is, with truth and 
right, among those who have both the power and disposi- 
tion to resist your principles and to destroy you, but I give 
you no means of self defence, but the wisdom of the ser- 
pent, tempered with the harmlessness of the dove. We have 
all along asserted, that there is power enough in the rulers of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, to excommunicate us all, 
and we are still of the same opinion ; but if any one should 
doubt it, let him remember, that the body of men of whom 
we mean to ask for a fish, may give us a scorpion ; that the 
very General Conference of 1828, may make rules, if they 
conceive they are not already made, to reach every re- 
former. 

Our relation I say was changed in point of fact, from the 
day the power of the itinerant preachers waked into action. 
The most distinguished preacher who should advocate the 
principle of representation would find himself obnoxious to 
power, as well as the least member in the church. No man 
among us has power to oppose to power; and truth or right 
in the mouth of a minister would not lose its lamb-like help- 
lessness, when assailed by the power of a majority of itine- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 343 

rant preachers. This majority have all the claws and all the 
teeth, and therefore, every man may be made to fear. 

This fact, brethren, we ought not by any excitement of 
zeal, to lose sight of for a moment. I therefore repeat it, 
truth or right in the grasp of power, is like lambs among 
wolves. Hitherto reformers have spoken and written freely 
and openly, they have had no secrets, the wisdom of the 
serpent was not necessary. The charge of imprudence and 
the general cast of all the objections brought against them, 
goes to shew, that power was not roused, that the prey 
though within reaching distance, was not seized. Hence- 
forth the character and conduct of Methodists must rapidly 
change. On the side of power there will be fierceness, and 
on the side of right concealment. Threatenings and suspi- 
cions will mightily prevail. A name has already been de- 
manded, not I presume to satisfy curiosity, or to confute ar- 
guments, but for punishment, or at least impeachment. 

Heretofore it is doubtful if a single travelling preacher has 
written for the Wesleyan Repository or the Mutual Rights, 
who was not known to his superiors. The writers them- 
selves often confided their proper names to their brethren, 
and so they felt not like lambs among wolves ; but a few exam- 
ples in the annual conferences will put an end to this kind 
of generous rivalship. Travelling preachers themselves will 
be thus painfully taught the wisdom of the serpent — taught 
to elude power by policy. What a temptation will this 
prove to trespass upon the innocence of the dove ? Bro- 
ther Dorsey, it seems, was advised by his friends (in this ad- 
vice I did not participate,) not to answer any question which 
might criminate himself. This refusal to answer questions, 
this putting the conference upon the proof of his guilt, 
made apart of his offence. Who then did he thus offend? 
No one but the members of the annual conference. Now 
mark brethren, the importance of this whole transaction : 
not to brother Dorsey merely, but to us all. Let this pro- 
cedure be established as a precedent, and of what avail will 
the maxim of our Master be to us ? How can we maintain 
the harmlessness of the dove ? How escape the jaws of 
power without dissimulation ? Surely if we have no right 
to keep our own secrets among those who make a man an 
offender for a word, we have no means of self preservation, 
but in the unqualified wisdom of the serpent. Brother Dor- 
sey by a vote of the annual conference, is deprived of a sta- 
tion for one year. Will either of these voters feel any 



344 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

twitches or qualms of conscience in treating either of us 
relatively in the same way, if we refuse to answer and to 
promise as they may please, and punish us for contumacy, 
or contempt of court ? And that too, while in our courts of 
law no man is required to answer any question which goes 
to criminate himself. If brother Dorsey were imprisoned 
or banished for one year, by an annual conference for con- 
tumacy, all the state of Maryland would be up in arms. 
The sound of the outcry of the deed would reach the ends 
of the earth. Persecution ! would be re-echoed in all di- 
rections ; and yet, incase either of imprisonment or ban- 
ishment, he might preach quite as much in the capacity of 
a travelling preacher as these brethren intend he shall in this 
case. The truth is, brethren, that there is the very essence 
of persecution in this act of the Baltimore annual confer- 
ence. As a precedent, it deprives us of our last, our only 
resort to defend ourselves against power, which we can em- 
ploy consistently with our christian character. Is not pun- 
ishment for telling the truth and a reward for dissimulation, 
in effect, the same? I know brethren, that we shall be ac- 
cused of party spirit and party purposes, in espousing the 
cause of this brother, but it is not so ; by this dispensation 
we are sent forth as lambs among wolves, power has usurped 
authority over truth ; we are not to be reasoned with, but pun- 
ished. In this new condition, what are we to do ? We 
must go to the New Testament for direction and instruc- 
tion ; and there we learn, that we must be wise as ser- 
pents and harmless as doves. Must we not then espouse 
the principle, and can we do this without espousing the 
cause of the first martyr of it in the Baltimore annual con- 
ference ? Your turn, my turn, may come next. It is an 
awful thing to be driven by the power of a majority from the 
last asylum of harmlessness — to be reduced to the dreadful 
alternative of dissimulation or bearing- witness against one's 
self. 

On the critical situation of brother Dorsey's health, pass- 
ing from his bed to the conference for several days, in which 
he was kept in painful suspense, I shall not enlarge; for 
though these circumstances may have produced a crisis in 
his disease, though his death may be thus accelerated, even 
this would be a small matter compared with the conse- 
quences of this principle as it relates to the souls of men, 
this sin against the brethren. It is not to your sympathies 
that I am addressing myself; but to the sacred regard which 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 345 

I hope and trust, you feel for this vital principle of all hu- 
man society. Let the wolf of authority, the unrelenting 
majority, either in church or state, leave to us a harmless 
silence, let them not compel us to bear witness against our- 
selves, and the wisdom of the serpent may shield us, may 
yet enable us, in the enjoyment of a good conscience, to 
elude their death-grasp. 

I deem it proper, brethren, that in this portentous change, 
in this state of your affairs, that you should hear my voice, 
should see my name. It will, I know it will, it must be asked, 
now the time is come to try men's souls, where is Philo Pis- 
ticus ? Where is Adynasius? Where is Senex ? Where is 
the man who was among the foremost to challenge us to the 
cause of representation? Where is Snethen ? I trust that 
while he is among the living, but one answer will be given 
to this question — he is at his post, he is in the front of the 
contest, he is shouting on, brethren on! and if he fall, it will 
be with a wound in his breast, and with his head direct to- 
wards the opponent. 

It is the command of the great Captain of our salvation, 
that we may not hurt even a hair on the head of those who 
hold the power to hurt us, even by the wisdom of the ser- 
pent. We may not lie, even for the glory of God ; but we 
may be silent, we may leave those in ignorance whom we 
know will not only not see, but punish those who offer to 
give them light. The old side men have done a strange 
thing in the earth : they have placed themselves hors du 
combat ; they have even done more, they have tempted us to 
smite them in the back, to aim invisible strokes at them — to 
conspire for their overthrow. Let us not avail ourselves of 
the advantages which their folly or want of foresight has 
given us! But I call upon you by every sacred name, to 
resist this inquisitorial power, this attempt to renew in Ame- 
rica, the old, the exploded principle of torture, this mon- 
strous outrage upon the principles of civil and religious lib- 
erty ; — the punishing of men for not submitting to criminate 
themselves. O defend to the last extremity, this final sanctu- 
ary of oppressed innocence. What may not the traitor to 
this cause expect ? Where can he find shelter from the 
frowns of Heaven and earth, and the self torture of his own 
reflections. 

Of the labor of seven years, I make no account. I was 
not a lamb among wolves. My courage, my resolution was 
not put to the test. I have never been questioned, never 



346 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

called to account, not even threatened. The fiery trial has 
come upon one who is as the shadow of a man, a walking 
skeleton, and I yet go free ! Mysterious providence ! Thank 
God, the afflicted man's soul is in health, his fortitude is un- 
impaired by disease, he has the courage and the constancy 
of a martyr : Lord, let the young man live and not die ! Let 
not the wife of his youth be a premature widow. I cannot 
now desert the cause and be innocent before God or man. 
] cannot now be silent and be harmless. I therefore adver- 
tise you of the change, and earnestly entreat you to conform 
to it by conforming to the directions of the Master, "Be ye, 
therefore, wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Your 
affectionate fellow laborer in the great cause of church 
representation. N. Snethen. 



Mutual Rights, vol. iv. begins with August, 1827. Dr. S. K. Jen- 
nings, chairman of the editorial committee. 

Trials of the Baltimore reformers begin September, 1827. 



TSo. 60. 

Mutal Rights, vol. iv. October, 1827, page 97. 

Remarks on Dr. Bond's Dedication — by N. Snethen, 

Dr. Bond in his rhetorical manner, tells me, that I was 
misinformed respecting the time when he began to write. 
I make no remark on his seeming play upon the word 
"book," &c. It may be, there was an error of inference 
on my part. He says, he ''was conscious of having signifi- 
ed an intention of writing in defence of our church polity." 
Possibly he might have told what he intended to write so 
often, and so circumstantially, as to give rise to the suppo- 
sition, that he had written as well as intended to write. My 
informants did not use the words "book" and "manuscript," 
but the impression made upon my mind was, that his ad- 
mired arguments were written. It is considered among us 
preachers to be of no consequence, whether a sermon is 
preached before it be written or afterwards. Doctor Bond's 
Appeal may indeed, have been first talked into existence. 

Is it not evident that he sought an occasion against me? 
Am I not warranted in the opinion, that if he had not found 
the quotations which he has given from the answer to 
O'Kelly, I should not have been honored with a dedication ? 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 347 

Query, if the dedication was now about to be written, would 
the same pains be taken to shew the author's delicacy, and 
to display the wound which my compliment to the profun- 
dity of his genius had given to his feelings? Would not a 
comparison between the dedication and the Appeal indicate, 
that the former must have been written first ; or, that its hu- 
mility must have been voluntary ? The Appeal throughout, 
is written as from the chair (ex cathedra.) If the writer 
was not conscious that he was a "profound divine;" or if 
he be now conscious that he is scarcely out of his novitiate, 
how incautious, how injudicious have his admirers been in 
trumpeting his praise. Is there less danger in flattering no- 
vices than in promoting them ? 1 Tim. iii. 6. No pope, no 
bishop, no doctor, no professor within my knowing, writes 
with a greater air of assurance than doctor Bond. His 
manner should be called Bond-ism, and his proselytes Bond- 
men. The feeling which he has transfused into his compo- 
sition, or which his writings transfuse into the breasts of 
his admirers, is calculated to produce a change in the moral 
character of the ministry and the church; and will do it, 
unless it shall be most steadfastly resisted. Never before, 
have I seen, in these United States, such a demonstration 
of the spirit of persecution. And I cannot behold without 
alarm, the proofs of the predisposition, or affinity for it, 
which are daily manifesting themselves. What a fearful at- 
titude of teeth and under lips, has this fatal Appeal already 
produced ! These men do not see their own faces ; they 
hold reformers in too great contempt to practise conceal- 
ment, and they are too confident in the divinity of doctor 
Bond's inspiration to give place to reflection : the color of 
the countenance, and the position of the muscles of the 
face, to say nothing of the tones of the voice and the mean- 
ing of words, in these cases, cannot therefore, be misunder- 
stood. 

His dedication to me makes a great display of words about 
my military figures, the "citadel," "the camp," and "the 
mine," &c. But before he has done with the Appeal, the 
secret leaks out. At one time, it seems, he had no objec- 
tion to the election of presiding elders, but now all the epi- 
thets in use against reformers, were then applied to those 
who were in favor of the presiding elder bill. And even 
more ; it was whispered to us, that in those days, one bishop 
went so far as to call another "traitor." I say now, what I 
meant last March. The reformers did once consider doctor 



348 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Bond as worthy of their confidence, and in writing against 
us, if he knew of any secret designs among us, we ex- 
pected that he would publish them all ; and I thus meant to 
set at nought the reports of secret designs, &c. Well he 
has published his book, let us now hear him, "whatever I 
may have suspected, I never knew until now, that you had 
any secret designs in your camp," &,c. Does he indeed 
know it now ? How then did he obtain the knowledge ? 
Does not what follows to the end of the section, savor more 
of the language of deception than of dedication? Doctor 
Bond must pardon me. I can just as soon believe that he 
is a fool, as believe that "in sober seriousness" he meant 
that what I had published in No. 32, had apprized him that 
I and "my friends are engaged in a secret conspiracy against 
the church." 

But "in sober seriousness" he tells me, that he was not 
aware of having done any thing to alarm my "pride," or to 
excite my "prejudice." Did I say that my pride was alarm- 
ed, or my prejudice excited ? In describing the characteis 
of reformers to men who were strangers to me, he tells thern 
that I am the most visionary theorist of them all. He 13 
not aware that this is "too hard striking," or that the stroke 
hurts me. But "perhaps" he says, "the real cause of your 
wrath may be found in a remark which I have already quo- 
ted." "Perhaps" it may not ; "perhaps" I was not wroth; 
what evidence did I give to doctor Bond that so hateful and 
diabolical a passion had any place in my breast ? Be as- 
sured gentle reader, that I felt no wroth, that 1 feel none 
now, and that [ had counted the cost of the controversy too 
well, not to be apprised, that, all manner of evil would be 
written as well as said of me, for representation's sake. 
And by the grace of God I had determined, and I still de- 
termine, not to give place to wrath, though I should be 
turned out of the synagogue. 

We come now to O'Kelly matters. At the General Con- 
ference of 1800, Mr. Asbury presented a mass of materials 
and documents, which he had prepared and collected as an 
answer to Mr. O'Kelly's "Apology." The conference were 
not eager to accept them. But near the close of the ses- 
sion, Philip Bruce, George Roberts, and Nicholas Snethen, 
were chosen as a committee, with powers to compose such 
an answer as they might think proper, from the papers fur- 
nished by Mr. Asbury. It was not Mr. Asbury then, but 
the General Conference who made choice of me as the last 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 349 

member of the committee, and the youngest. To this 
choice Mr. Asbury did not object, though he well knew that 
I was what is now called a new-side man. My colleagues 
devolved the labor of the compilation or abridgement upon 
me, and in this humble task, I think it likely that I made 
much of the language my own, but how much I could not 
now tell ; for I have not seen either of the pamphlets these 
twenty-seven years. But the leading ideas in the quotation, 
I am persuaded, I spake not of myself. Young men were 
then taught, as they are now, if not that "might is right," 
that success is truth. The reader may perceive that in 
those days, young writers, scarcely out of their novitiate, 
were quite as flippant in the use of the arguments drawn 
from our success, as they are in these days ; and that so far, 
doctor Bond's book is not a new thing under the sun. 
What St. Paul says of himself "when I was a child, I 
thought as a child, I spoke as a child," is true of all chil- 
dren in understanding. 

The reader will please to bear in mind, that Mr. O'Kelly 
withdrew from the General Conference and from the con- 
nexion, in the year 1792, so that he had in 1800, been se- 
parate from, and independent of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, eight years; and that in consequence of the real 
or apprehended attempts to induce the members of the 
classes to go over to him, what is called the gag law, was 
passed. But why did Mr. O'Kelly first leave the connex- 
ion ? Because that in a trial of strength upon his favorite 
appeal, he and his friends were found in the minority. The 
question of lay representation was not before the General 
Conference, the question was, simply, whether a travelling 
preacher should have an appeal to the conference of travel- 
ling preachers from the appointment of the bishop. In 
1800, I lent the aid of my pen, to stop the progress of a 
separation from the church; in 1821, I did the same, as 
may be seen in the first volume of the Wesleyan Reposi- 
tory, particularly in the November No., under the head of 
"The State of our Affairs." In 18*27, I continue to do the 
same. I now not only advise the friends of reform not to 
separate from the church, but I warn, and caution, and en- 
treat doctor Bond, and all who are baptized into his spirit, 
not to turn men out of the church, because they mean to 
petition the General Conference to grant them a represen- 
tation, for this may lead to a final separation. 
30 



350 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Doctor Bond, in his dedication, has misrepresented me ; 
he has misrepresented my friends, and he has misrepresent- 
ed the state of facts. 1 am innocent of the revolutionary 
principles and projects, he has laid to my charge. 1 am ut- 
terly unable to comprehend how he could ever have gotten 
his own consent to write the following: "I still wait with 
painful anxiety, to see the result of the desperate game you 
are playing; you can never reform the church after your 
fashion, but you may rend it, and have cause after, to la- 
ment your fatal success. Among those who, in the dis- 
memberment of the church, will follow in your train, there 
may be, and probably will be many good men, 'wrong in 
their opinions, but right in their sentiments ;' but there will 
also follow those turbulent, discontented spirits, who are 
impatient of all control; and all those who are against our 
discipline because our discipline is against them." I can- 
not for the life of me, see any fitness or application in wri- 
ting thus, save to the quotation which is made to follow it. 
I really have no more concern in this kind of matter than 
the man in the moon. The writer must have been dream- 
ing when he wrote "I saw you climbing the steep and 
slippery ascent to revolutionary distinction." Don't turn 
me out of the pulpit, doctor Bond, don't turn me and my 
friends out of the church, and I will prove to you, and to 
the world, that if you had no worse intention in writing 
thus, you must have intended to show how well you could 
write. 

I said truly and sincerely of this expected publication, 
what I say of all possible ones. I am open to conviction, 
let me be confuted, and I will be the first to proclaim the 
victor. But what is there in this appeal to convince me ? 
I declare that I see nothing new in it. For upwards of 
thirty years I have been as familiar with all doctor Bond's 
axioms and arguments as with my alphabet. I am surprised 
when I hear of travelling preachers of some standing, pro- 
fessing to be convinced by this appeal. How little must 
these men know of the history of opinions among their 
own fraternity. "The voluntary association, and the inde- 
feasible right to withdraw" are not only worn threadbare, 
but torn to tatters. It will be well if it is not yet made to 
appear, that they involve a damnable heresy. Have the 
members of the church an indefeasible right to withdraw 
from the head of the church ? If this writer will convince 
reformers, that they can withdraw from the church, without 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 351 

withdrawing from its head, ''perhaps" apart of their repug- 
nance to such a step may be overcome. As a writer against 
the principles of reform, doctor Bond is not to be feared ; 
but as a writer against reformers, he is to be dreaded. 
Upon principles, he soon gets out of his depth ; upon men, 
he is quite at home. I envy not, I emulate not the writer 
who writes from behind the shields of those who stand ready 
with drawn swords, not only to protect him, but to make 
his arguments or invectives a pretext to assail his oppo- 
nents. Let a hundred or two reformers be excluded from 
the church, and who will not think with the doctor himself, 
that his book is unanswerable. The powers that be, in the 
church, may indeed excommunicate the men, but why will 
they not reflect that logic is not a subject of excommunica- 
tion ? Have church rulers, in these modern times, no fear 
of this ghost? It may, perhaps, in spite of the door-keeper, 
•and the rules, get into the General Conference : it is a 
subtle spirit, and can penetrate almost any thing but thick 
skulls. There is a singular fatality about "some" of the 
"popular topics of doctor Bond's Appeal." After going 
the rounds among the fathers, and the bishops, and the pre- 
siding elders, &c. &c. and receiving their best polish from 
the pen of the doctor, a travelling preacher dissolves them, 
almost as by a touch. Let these be the eternal distinctions 
between old and new side men ; while the former exclude 
members by their power, let the latter destroy error by their 
logic. In such a bloodless career of victory, who would 
not say to the reformers, "on, brethren, on !" And in such 
a career, who can doubt the final triumph of the latter over 
the former. Never before this period, has the cause of re- 
form occupied such an elevated position, as it does at pre- 
sent. Almost at the very time when power is demanding 
sacrifices from among us, and calling us to martyrdom, the 
eyes of the nation are turned to the merits of our contro- 
versy, and our countrymen are brought to see, that we are 
ready and willing to suffer in liberty's holy cause. I have 
already told you, my reforming brethren, that in my opinion, 
opposition to representation would melt away in the Gen- 
eral Conference itself, and I feel confirmed in this belief. 
Were you not slow of heart, twelve months ago, to believe 
what you now see with your own eyes. A local preacher 
is the great champion and leader in the cause of non-resist- 
ance and passive obedience, and a travelling preacher leads 
in the cause of representation and church rights. Can you 



352 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 

help smiling, to see our hierarchy led on in opposition to 
representation by doctor Bond, and Mr. Shinn handling his 
invincible book like a mere play thing. It is thus my friends 
that you begin to taste the sweet rewards of perseverance. 
A few may fall, by the hands of power, but fear not, the 
cause will be nobly won. 
Linganore, August, 1S27. 



IVo. 61. 

Mutual Rights, vol. iv. May, 1829, page 310. 

i\ r . Snethen's answer to the constructions which are given to 
certain parts of his essay on church property, in "a Narra- 
tive and Defence." 

This essay, like all others, offered for publication in the 
Mutual Rights, was subjected to the judgment of the edito- 
rial committee. I only requested that it might be published 
with my proper name. I see no cause to blush at any of the 
parts, which have been extracted by the author of the Nar- 
rative and Defence. But the meaning which is given to 
certain passages surprises me exceedingly, as no such mean- 
ing had ever entered into my mind. I must have been in- 
nocent of any slanderous intentions, for I was ignorant of 
them. I could not design to write what I did not think of. 
All the objections, which I supposed could be made to the 
essay, I was prepared to meet, and to answer. 

The great defect in our government, as I conceive, is 
the want of an independent legislative department. In my 
conscience, I do believe, that an independent General Con- 
ference never can exist under the present organization : my 
anxiety to make the presiding elders elective was chiefly to 
promote the independence of the General Conference. An 
independent legislature seems to me to be out of the ques- 
tion, while a large proportion of the legislative body, are 
under executive patronage. But I consider the hold, which 
the exclusive power of making the appointments, gives to 
the bishop upon the property, as the great instrument, by 
which the General Conference may be forever controlled. 
On this subject, Cincinnatus in the Wesleyan Repository 
wrote with the skill of a master, his leading object was to 
promote the election of the presiding elders. It seems to 
me, that the most effectual way, if not the only way to coun- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 353 

tervail the influence of property, is to introduce lay delega- 
tion into the General Conference ; but if I said, or meant 
to be understood, as though I had said, that the property is 
vested in the bishops, in fee, how could I suppose, that the 
lay delegates would acquire any title to it. The knowledge 
of the fact, that the property is deeded to the General Con- 
ference, is one of the reasons why I urge so earnestly the 
principle of representation. If I had written the meaning, 
the author of the Defence, says I have ; he might laugh at, 
or pity my bad logic ; but I should be unworthy of his dis- 
pleasure. The houses I knew could not be taken from the 
preachers, because the preachers exclusively compose the 
General Conference, the lay delegates cannot be taken from 
the houses, and therefore they might act independently of 
executive control, or any fear of it. My object in writing 
the essay on church property, was to promote independent 
legislation. Cannot this object be perceived by an unpre- 
judiced reader ? The contested election of 1824, and the 
triumph of the opposers of the election of the presiding el- 
ders, and also the consequent fears of the minority were 
matters of notoriety. Censures of the minority, not to say 
threatenings, were frequent. With these men I had co-ope- 
rated, and for them I was deeply interested. I therefore an- 
ticipated in the essay the treatment they might receive, (I 
did not say that they would be so treated) as the most likely 
means, which 1 could employ to prevent them from being so 
treated. I had known more than one preacher who had 
left the connexion, or located in consequence of General 
Conference disagreements. "Perhaps" they did say of the 
place where the conference met, (it met most frequently in 
Baltimore,) Baltimore, Baltimore ! "perhaps" I heard 
them say so. Whether a certain preacher who advocated 
the appeal and left the General Conference, when he found 
himself in the minority did so exclaim, I know not. In my 
essay I had no reference to him, nor those with whom he 
acted. The author of the Defence may huff and flounce as 
much as he pleases, but I can assure the reader, that minority 
men have not in the general felt unlimited confidence in the 
forgetfulness of the men in power, whom they have had the 
misfortune to oppose. I could teil some strange tales about 
a certain proposition to raise a fund to meet the wants of 
those travelling preachers who might fall under executive 
displeasure for advocating certain principles, and also about 
application to me, after I had located, to write to certain 
30* 



354 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

stewards and trustees in the north, &-c. I have had great op- 
portunities to know the minds of travelling preachers, about 
food and raiment matters. My opposition has never been 
to men, but to measures, or their consequences. I have 
seen in the system the germs of high church polity, and I 
see them developing themselves under every exciting cause. 
How could it enter into the mind of any man that 1 meant 
to slander a man in 1825, whom I had eulogized in a fune- 
ral discourse in 1816. I had nothing more to hope for from 
his successors in the former period, than in the latter. Party 
spirit upon the plan of reform which I advocate, can have 
no place. We have petitioned the General Conference. 
Let my meaning in an essay on church property respecting 
Mr. Asbury be made a question ; and then could it be logi- 
cally inferred, that because I wrote good, good, good, in one 
instance, I meant in the other to write bad of the same 
man. Had I written an essay to prove that Mr. A. was a 
bad man, my former eulogy of his character might have well 
been opposed to it. My conscience bears me witness, I 
lie not, it never entered into my mind to detract from Mr. 
Asbury's character at any time. If it had not been almost 
universally known, that we were always of different church 
politics, and that I was generally among the more zealous 
opposers of executive power, in conference and out of it, I 
should not have been careful to publish my funeral discourse ; 
but even in that, when examined in manuscript by the au- 
thorities, some objectionable matter was pointed out, though 
it was suffered to pass. But if any confidence is to be 
placed in man, I could not but know that the episcopal pow- 
er was feared even in the hands of Mr. Asbury, and if my 
own ears are to be trusted, he was flattered by some of the 
very men, who feared his power. It was not only indeli- 
cate, but rude and insolent in the writer of the article in the 
Defence, to affect, to falsify the facts on which my theory 
was predicated in the manner he has. How could he have 
known all the men, and all the cases which might have fall- 
en under my notice in the course of twenty years of active 
travels through the United States. As to John Bond, or 
the stuff he was made of, I knew nothing, he lived after my 
time ; well might my "enemy" declaim about the want of 
harmony between my judgment and my imagination, if 
while I supposed that I was theorising upon the subject of 
flattery, 1 was giving vent to the ravings of party spirit, and 
aspersing the character of the dead, either in forgetfulness, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 355 

or in violation of all my former testimonies. If the public 
see cause to judge at all upon my essay, is it unreasonable 
to ask them to judge upon the merits of the case without 
the aid of my interpreter. What proof has he given that I 
meant to describe real cases of tyrannical administration, and 
of actual instances of persecuting men out of the connex- 
ion ? Why forsooth, I mentioned a place. Is there not 
reason to suspect, that this writer has become so familiar 
with church butcheries, and so habited to the language of 
reproach, as to conceive that power can only act palpably. 
The power however, of good bishops, may make itself to be 
feared without the aid of a mitre, or a helmet. In my youth- 
ful days all who feared power were not gudgeons, they did 
not always stand still and wait to be knocked on the head. 
They could take a hint before it was quite so broad as to 
kick them out of doors. Mr. Asbury and those who suc- 
ceed to the power vested in the episcopacy, surrounded, 
and continue to surround themselves with confidants. 
They see more men, and many things through other men's 
eyes ; more than one preacher within my knowing has la- 
bored under a suspicion that some body stood between them 
and their bishop, and that their appointments were not al- 
ways the dictation of a bishop's judgment alone. It is not 
an easy matter for all the preachers in an annual conference 
to keep in equal favor with all the bishops and all the pre- 
siding elders. When men are fully aware of the favors they 
may derive from official friendships, they are not apt to be 
unmindful of the dangers to be apprehended from official 
enmities. 

Almost the only objection to my essay, which I had heard 
of, was to the case of Mr. Wesley and his preacher, this 
was one of the lies I was told, Mr. Hitt said I had know- 
ingly written. Mr. Alexander Yearly, I was also told, ask- 
ed in the Baltimore quarterly meeting conference, whether 
there was any authority given for the story, and on being 
answered in the negative, concluded that it was a vile slan- 
der. But in all this, it may be presumed that he did not sus- 
pect he might possibly be speaking evil of a minister, if not 
slandering one. I related the case, as nearly as my memory 
would serve me, from an English preacher of unquestioned 
veracity, who had known Mr. Wesley personally, and was 
disposed to vindicate him in this matter. I am sure I had 
no intention of slandering Mr. Wesley, as I considered the 
right of property and the power all on his side. When I 



356 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

said that the General Conference supposes that the bishops 
can do no wrong. My words are, the discipline in giving 
unlimited power to the bishops, supposes, &,c. I did sup- 
pose that all Methodist preachers, and Methodists at least, 
would have understood me to mean in stationing the preach- 
ers. It does not often happen, I believe, that men in any 
community, attempt to deny in the presence of their fellow 
citizens, the existence of the laws contained in their com- 
mon statute books, as the writer must suppose I had done. 
The stationing power of the bishops is unlimited, and it is 
not long since a book was written in part to prove, that it is 
right that it should be so. Does the general discipline pre- 
sume that the bishops can do wrong in stationing the preach- 
ers? Does it presume that there can be a transgression of 
a law, when none exists ? What law does a bishop trans- 
gress when he takes a preacher from a house ? Is it not the 
very condition of admission into the travelling connexion 
that the preacher is to do that part of the work which his 
appointers judge proper. But why did I mention or allude 
to this? Only to shew its tendency to make the General 
Conference dependent upon the bishops, in whom the sta- 
tioning power is vested. Now who can help but see that it 
is not necessary for a preacher to be taken from a house, in 
order to make him feel his dependence, but merely to know, 
that it may be done, either at the will of the bishop, or 
through the influence of a presiding elder. I could write a 
little volume of the fears and jealousies of travelling preach- 
ers, even in the patriarchate of Mr. Asbury. And in regard 
to the present incumbents, the author of the Defence might 
have put himself in mind, not, only of the adage, "Rome 
was not built in a day," but that it was not destroyed in a 
day. 

My good friends in the Baltimore annual conference with 
a few exceptions, have quieted my fears for themselves and 
their families. They are no longer minority men. How it 
may be with them hereafter, if they may even want bread 
and medicine, I know not. As the old foundations are all 
broken up, I can form no conjecture how parties will divide 
in the next General Conference. Rumor says that there is 
an anxious, if not a fearful looking for, of the elections to 
come. I did once rejoice much at the success of any of my 
quondam friends, and why may I not still do so? I have 
not deserted them or the common cause. They may now 
see how I have put myself in jeopardy, for their sakes, and 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 35* 

that I am no traitor. How can they now believe me to be 
the wretch, I am represented to be, by the author of detrac- 
tion, instead of Defence. Let it not be said, that all the good 
friends of reform in 1S24, in the itinerancy, could suffer my 
aspersions of the character of the dead to sleep in silence 
until 1828, and then join in the common reproach, just got- 
ten up by one man. Such a statement must involve their 
heads or their hearts in some blame. The root of all our 
evils is in the dependence of the General Conference. Nay 
but its members can do wonders, they can impeach and ex- 
pel bishops, that is they can change masters. The servile 
fears which the absolute stationing power is calculated to 
produce among itinerants, is enough to corrupt any body of 
men in any office, whether in church or state. My re- 
proacher is a pernicious flatterer, he flatters the living 
through the dead. Whoever will be at the pains to look 
over Lavoisne's map of the papal succession, will find that 
the dead popes are all saints. Can the living popes have a 
surer pledge that they too will die saints ? When John, and 
Thomas, and Francis, and Richard, are all canonized, and 
any one or more of the members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church can find means to excommunicate any of their 
brethren, whom they may take it into their heads to prose- 
cute for speaking evil of ministers, we too may write upon 
the bells of all the horses, "holiness to the bishops." The 
quotation in the defence about the manner of bringing bish- 
ops to trial might have been spared, it was not denied, it 
was not perverted, I had tried my strength at this bow of 
Ulysses. Mr. O'Kelly had blown upon it, and I found it 
most "expedient" to pass it in silence. The first named 
members of the committee must be presiding elders of the 
bishop's own choosing, the very men of his confidence, the 
remainder are to be elders and deacons of their choosing ; 
and if they acquit, there the matter ends ; but if they im- 
peach, the General Conference may judge otherwise and 
acquit, where then will be the fears of the impeaching com- 
mittee ? How many of the General Conference may be 
presiding elders ? 

My opinion is, that a lay delegation which shall not lead 
to an independent legislation, will be of little account ; but 
that without lay delegation, an independent legislation will 
be impossible. On the comparative character of a monar- 
chy and an aristocracy, I have long since given my views. 
In my judgment the former is most apt to be the popular 



358 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

favorite. The travelling preacher, who has been left with- 
out the means of subsistence for one year, and the expelled 
local preachers and lay members will perhaps have an opin- 
ion of their own, about the tender mercies of aristocratical 
imitations, and combinations. 

In regard to Mr. Asbury's election by the American 
preachers, I had never heard but one opinion, and that was 
that the measure was neither ordered nor approved by Mr. 
Wesley. No circumstance is more distinctly in my recol- 
lection than that, Mr. Asbury conceived that the English 
preachers were of the opinion, that Mr. Wesley might re- 
call him, and that some of them were disposed to use their 
influence to effect his recall. The documents, I thought 
best, in my answer to O'Kelly to suppress, and Mr. Asbury 
acquiesced. Well what is my inference ? Is it that Mr. 
Asbury was a bad man? Nothing like it; I never thought 
of such a thing until I saw it in the Narrative. I inferred 
that the election of Mr. Asbury for life, ought not to be 
binding on the General Conference, as a precedent, to elect 
the bishops for life. If there were in England a factious 
influence operating to effect Mr. Asbury's recall from Amer- 
ica, and he could countervail it by the election of the preach- 
ers, who met in Baltimore. I see no sin in it. If the author 
will prove, that it was Mr. Wesley's wish and orders, that 
Mr. Asbury should be elected by the American preachers, 
a bishop over them for life; then he will prove that I was 
mistaken, and that I am so still ; until this defence appeared, 
I never heard it intimated that Mr. Wesley was the propo- 
ser of Mr. Asbury's election. All the circumstantial evi- 
dence convinces me that he was not; but that he was actu- 
ally displeased with the measure. I will here relate what 
was my impression of Mr. Asbury's movements, at several 
of the General Conferences. It seemed to me that he laid 
his plans so as to call forth some expression from the Gene- 
ral Conference, which might seem to be tantamount to a 
re-election. In the last General Conference he ever attend- 
ed, he talked of withdrawing from the scene of his American 
labors, and the General Conference voted their request, that 
he should not leave them. I joined not in the vote, but if 
the discipline had made the bishops re-elective, no man 
could have been more prompt to re-elect Mr. Asbury than 
myself. 

I do contend that the editorial committee, the Union So- 
ciety, and every reader of the Mutual Rights, had an inde- 






SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 359 

feasible right to judge of the matter of my essays, and my 
intentions in writing them, and if they judged that I neither 
slandered the dead nor the living, and did not mean to do 
it, no man, not immediately and personally concerned, had 
any right to make an opposite judgment a ground of a 
prosecution, much less of expulsion from the church ; and 
that every line in the Narrative and Defence, of such a 
prosecution and expulsion, ought to shock the feelings of 
every American citizen. What would be thought of a set 
of men who should appear in the character of prosecutors, 
to procure the banishment or the capital punishment of cer- 
tain editors and patrons of a book, because that in their 
judgment, it slandered certain men, now or formerly in of- 
fice ? And what would be thought of the freedom of the 
press, and of the rights and liberties of American citizens, 
if their banishment should be thus procured ? 

Mr. Hanson seemed to have thought that he paid a light 
compliment to Dr. Jennings, when he refused time to cor» 
respond with the authors of the essays. I think his reason, 
as reported by the Doctor, would have induced any set of 
men, save Methodist reformers, to have put an end to the 
process at once. Why, in the name of all that is just and 
reasonable, could not Mr. Hanson have conferred with Dr. 
Jennings, or with the committee, so soon as he was made 
acquainted with those parts of the Mutual Rights which 
were deemed offensive? Was it incompatible with his office, 
to act the part of an umpire, or a peace maker. The 
method the gentleman has pursued has eventuated in the 
expulsion of all the prosecuted men; could any other me- 
thod have ended more fatally ? Is it probable that the public 
esteem for a physician, will be increased by his producing 
the death of all his patients, as proof that he took the best 
possible means to save them all? Did Mr. Hanson believe 
in his heart that the result would be as it has proved to be ? 
Or did he believe, or hope, that it would have been other- 
wise ? If the latter, then he was mistaken; if the former, 
let the matter remain between God and his conscience. It 
would have afforded great satisfaction, to have folind in his 
Narrative, a single proof from his own pen, that he used 
any means to give the accused fair play. But according to 
his own shewing, he did nothing in compliance with the 
request of the accused. And he sets up an hypothetical 
defence for himself why he did not. He had no power it 
seems, to compel the attendance of committee men, &c. 



360 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

&c. Would it not have been better if he could have said, 
that, finding the men he had selected were objected to, he 
tried to get others, but they would not serve? Had he done 
so, his defence would not have been suppositious. Impar- 
tial readers of the Narrative can have but one opinion, and 
that is, that Mr. Hanson presided over an exparte prosecu- 
tion, that in Baltimore there were no middle men, or that, 
he would have none of them on these trials : in either case 
the trials ought not to have been. 

If at any time before these trials, notice had been given 
to me either verbally, or by letter, or in the Mutual Rights, 
by any or all of the prosecutors in substance, the same as 
now appears in the Narrative, no man need have been pros- 
ecuted or expelled on my account. I would have taken all 
my burden on my own shoulders. As the case now stands, 
I am not convinced that I have misstated any fact beyond 
the means of a fair and liberal explanation, or that I have 
drawn false inferences from any premises. 

Of the merits of my essay on church property, it does 
not become me to speak, as writers are seldom competent 
to judge of their own productions, but I cannot conceal the 
complacency I feel in consideration of the lengths of the 
extracts, which the narrator has given. It is probable, that 
scarcely five hundred persons had ever read my essay on 
church property, and it was in the power of this searcher 
of my heart, and of my words, to have taken only the parts 
which he has falsely construed, and given a meaning to, of 
which I had never thought, and which I should have never 
known, without the aid of his pen. May I not now fairly 
presume, that his addition of extracts has given a circula- 
tion to my thoughts, which they would not otherwise ever 
have obtained, and that if they possess any measure of the 
value I have persuaded myself to believe they do, their 
effect cannot be wholly lost on the public mind. That my 
arguments have not been refuted, or even attempted to be 
refuted, I feel morally certain. The object of this extractor 
was evidently not to reason with me, but to abuse me. He 
has held me up to public view, not only as an object of 
odium, but of public execration. Still, however, I feel con- 
fident that the extracts he has given of my essay, will greatly 
promote the cause of reform. I even anticipate that these 
extracts alone, will revolutionize property matters in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and thus lead to the downfall 
of the Collossus of itinerant power, which is based upon it. 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 361 

Hundreds, yea thousands, have already read my thoughts, 
to whom they were as new as if they had just fell down 
from the skies. And many of these, when they wake in 
the morning, or at some hour of the night, will hear these 
thoughts speak within them, and feel conviction of their 
truth — Yes ! yes ! ! will many a travelling preacher say, 
it is so, I see it now. Snethen is right. Our boasted title 
to church property, only ministers to the powers of the 
bishops, and serves to destroy the independence of the 
General Conference itself. It is plain, it is evident to de- 
monstration, that we must call in the lay delegates to our 
aid, or that the power of which we have been so tenacious, 
will forever react to our own hurt ; we ourselves by it must 
become the most dependant. The people are our truest 
friends, and to them we must show ourselves friendly. It 
is amusing to hear Mr. Hanson predicting the rise and suc- 
cess of another row of reformers. There was a time when 
the enemies of Columbus might have made similar predic- 
tions in reference to the discoverer of America; might well 
have foretold, while he was in a dungeon and in chains, 
that other voyagers must complete the work he had begun. 
I cannot but smile at the fond anticipations of this reformer : 
when the church shall call for reformation, he will still be 
willing. Has the church any will out of the General Con- 
ference, has the church any other tongue or voice ? Those 
who come after me will know who advanced the principles 
of reform, and who were true to them. 



Volume iv. of the Mutual Rights for 1827-'28, is most interesting, 
as finishing the account of the catastrophe of the Baltimore expulsions. 

The Mutual Rights was transferred by the Union Society to the Rev. 
Dennis B. Dorsey, to be published once in two weeks, in a newspaper 
form, with the addition to its title of Christian Intelligencer. The 
1st No. appeared September 5, 1828. 

31 



362 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 63. 

Christian Intelligencer, vol. i. September 20, 1828, page 6. 

Thoughts on Representation. Dedicated to Young Travelling 
Preachers. 

No. I. 

The human mind is not only destitute of the principle of 
intuition, but it is often incapable of receiving impressions 
from the plainest and most distinct communications of the 
senses. Previous conceptions and existing desires or 
aversions, may not only suspend the operations of our un- 
derstandings, in regard to what may be passing in our 
senses, but entirely change the facts presented by the senses 
to them. At the time of the memorable stir which grew 
out of the decision of the General Conference of 1792, I 
was a young man and a young preacher ; remote from the 
scene, and a stranger to the parties concerned. All my in- 
formation was, of course, derived from the travelling preach- 
ers, of whose intelligence and impartiality I had no more 
doubt, than of their veracity. Concerning things that they 
had seen and heard, I took it for granted they could not be 
mistaken ; entirely overlooking the fact that much of what 
they did relate, they could neither see nor hear. For they not 
only told me what such and such men did and said, but why 
and wherefore they did and said thus and so. Motives and 
intentions, thoughts and designs, that were known only to 
God, were thus transmitted to me, by my seniors and supe- 
riors, as facts, and as such I received them, without reflec- 
tion or examination. It is evident, therefore, that my mind 
was prejudiced against men I had never seen, not merely 
because they had done a peculiar act, or held a certain 
opinion ; but I was led to infer from my information that 
they were bad men, and whatever they might say or do in 
their vindication, must go for nothing so long as this pre- 
judice against their moral characters existed in my mind. 
All that those men could have said of the nature and ten- 
dency of the existing powers, though its truth might have 
been as evident as the sun at noon day, would not have 
convinced me but that they were bad men. And while this 
prejudice remained, I must needs have thought I did God 
service, in opposing them. Now it is possible, that the 
characters of the men might have been as bad as I had pre- 
judged them to be, but if it could have been proved that 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 363 

they were so, it would not have justified my prejudice, nor 
corrected the fallacy of the medium through which it was 
derived. In this manner, nine out of ten of the young 
travelling preachers, have derived, or will have derived^ 
their information, respecting reform and reformers. And 
how can a young preacher doubt what a bishop or presiding 
elder shall tell him of a reformer. Will it be likely to occur 
to the youth, that the venerable and holy father is passing 
off his own conjectures and opinions as facts ; or that age 
and piety give no insight into the motives and intentions of 
the hearts of those who differ in opinion from them. It 
seems that there is hardly a besetment of our frail nature, 
that we are so seldom successful in guarding against, as 
evil surmisings. To question a man's motives, is, indeed, 
infinitely easier than to answer his arguments. The toil- 
worn veterans of itinerancy, are not unfrequently heard 
conversing in the presence of their juniors, upon the mo- 
tives of reformers, with as much familiarity as though they 
could see through their breast bones. But they neither 
suspect themselves, nor are they suspected by their youth- 
ful auditors of uttering merely their own suspicions, instead 
of facts. As soon as I had ascertained that the bishops 
had taken a stand against church representation, I not 
only anticipated what has come to pass, but also, how it 
would come to pass. The question itself, though of all 
others the most simple and identical, and the most easy of 
comprehension by American people, would become involv- 
ed with the motives and characters of men, and with 
strange and foreign associations and consequences. A writes 
in favor of reform. He is a man of speculation, a mere 
theorist. B, also writes in favor of reform. He is a vision- 
ary, a mere creature of whim and caprice. C, is indeed 
a sensible writer, but he is irritable and passionate. As for 
D, though a well meaning man, he is weak headed. Now 
all this may be true, and yet have no earthly connection 
with the principle of representation. But these men are 
actuated, with selfish and ambitious motives. How has 
this come to be known, have they whispered their motive 
in confidence, to some treacherous friend who has betrayed 
the secret? But motives have no connexion with the ques- 
tion of right. Let the case be fairly stated. A, B, and C, 
have elected delegates to the General Conference, and they 
have been elected while they were travelling preachers, and 
they are now located. Were their motives then suspected ? 



364 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

Or is it suspected that they have changed their motives, in 
consequence of location ? We will give all the weight to 
this last suspicion, which can possibly be claimed for it. 
Give representation to local preachers, and the members, 
and what possible security can A, B, or C, have, that they 
shall be elected? However, suppose them to be elected, 
and to take their seats in General Conference. The time 
will then have come for them to act out the hypocritical 
motives and purposes, so often, and so loudly charged upon 
them. Will A move, and B second the motion, that local 
preachers may have the right to occupy, exclusively, any 
pulpit they may choose, and for such a length of time as 
may suit their interest, or inclination. The President shall 
then call for the question — "shall this motion be sustained," 
and call for the ayes and noes. How would the conference 
divide ? Suppose all the local preachers to vote for it, an 
event by the way not at all likely, would they make a ma- 
jority of all the delegates present? If not, then ail those 
dreaded motives of the advocates of representation, would 
vanish into empty air. What a ninny must he be, who 
shall go into a legislative assembly, composed of represen- 
tatives of the people, in hopes of gaining exclusive privi- 
leges. I do not believe, that there is a local preacher in 
the world, so fool-hardy as to attempt any such thing, and 
thus expose himself to be laughed to scorn. A General 
Conference, composed of the representative, travelling 
and local preachers and laity, will be no place in which to 
seek monopolies ; independence and freedom of speech are 
formidable adversaries to the seekers of glory and interest. 

I have no wish to prejudice young men against their 
venerated leaders ; but to remove the prejudice which they 
have imbibed against the friends of representation. Un- 
less this prejudice can be removed, all argument must be 
lost upon them. The old preachers, I am persuaded, have 
not attended to the nature and tendency of impeaching 
motives, or they would themselves have been shocked at 
it. They have, on the contrary, as I have said in a former 
case, overlooked the distinction between motives and facts. 

No. II. 

When any considerable number of our citizens meet on 
any political occasion, the public prints announce it in ca- 
pitals — "A meeting of the People." Why are these capi- 
tals employed ? They are expressive of sovereignty, the 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 365 

sovereignty of the people, they are in the place of H. H. or 
His Majesty. The question at issue between the reform- 
ers, and the travelling preachers, is a question of sove- 
reignty. The meeting of the Maryland Convention of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, was preparatory to a general 
convention, to petition the General Conference to renounce 
the sovereignty which it exercises, over the church, in mak- 
ing laws for it without its representatives ; not to transfer 
that sovereignty to the travelling preachers, or to divide it 
with them. 

The meeting of this convention, is one of the most im- 
portant and interesting events in the history of Methodism. 
I have shared in the sovereignty of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and have been a member of the General Con- 
ference as often as I wished to be. But though I took 
part in favor of the interests of the church, and the travel- 
ling preachers, I retired from the exercise of this imperious 
power, with painful feelings. I have been making laws for 
others (I would say to myself) without their consent, and if 
they refuse to submit to them, they may be excluded from 
the ministry, or the church. Who gave me this power ? And 
how can 1 vindicate myself from the exercise of it, before my 
final judge ? But humbled, repentant, and resolved never 
again to partake in this operation, I have, however, submitted 
to it as a preacher for many years, preferring rather to suffer 
wrong, than to do wrong. At length a happy day has ar- 
rived. I have met and acted with men who assert their 
freedom and sovereignty, — not as their leader,— but as their 
equal ; and thus tasted the purest of all social pleasures. 
How delightful is this feeling, when contrasted with those 
feelings so often excited by the presence of men who unite 
in themselves the offices of law-giver, ruler and judge ! For 
associating and co-operating with those who assert their 
independence of all human sovereignty, religious, as well 
as civil, my motives are impeached, my name is consigned 
over to the young preachers, as an object of prejudice, that 
my example may be prevented from producing imitations 
when I am dead. The minds of young preachers are in- 
spired with prejudice against those, who take preparatory 
measures to send a petition to General Conference. Young 
men, pause, I beseech you, and reflect on this ! Our object 
is to prepare a petition to deprive you of the succession to 
legislative sovereignty over us. Do not suffer your minds 
to be diverted from this position, this state of the fact. If 
31* 



366 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

our petition is granted, you will have to meet the church and 
the local ministry, by their representatives in the General 
Conference, as your equals, and they to meet you as their 
equals. The sovereign legislative power will be in the 
whole body, for the benefit of the whole. Your own ambi- 
tion is concerned in this matter — deeply concerned. Be- 
ware, I beseech you, of every artifice, by which your minds 
may lead you to impute to others, the subtle passions, which 
the power in prospect before you, is calculated to kindle in 
your own breasts. A hundred, a thousand times, you have 
been taught to say, that our motives are bad, that our plan 
will destroy the work of God ; but before you suffer your- 
selves to repeat the sentiments, consider the consequence 
which must follow, if they be true. It will follow that 
legislative sovereignty in the ministry, cannot be opposed 
without bad motives, that the work of God cannot be car- 
ried on without the sovereignty. If we should gain all we 
ask for, we shall gain nothing in comparison of what you 
must lose ; for we gain nothing but self-government ; but 
you lose absolute sovereignty. In our manner of self-govern- 
ment, you must also be equal partakers. 

The privilege of petitioning is not denied to the most 
abject vassals, by their most absolute rulers. Why, then, 
should prejudice be excited on this account, either against 
motives, or measures ? Does this anxiety to prevent a pe- 
tition, proceed from a fixed determination not to grant it? 
Then let it be confined to the aged preachers, let them bear 
the responsibility. The time may not be distant, when the 
young men will not be able to bear it. Their minds ought 
to be left to act without prejudice, as necessity may require. 
Suppose that some one of the few remaining sages, who 
co-operated in the achievement of our independence, 
should say to one of our popular young preachers, "Young 
man, I am told that thou art opposed to the principle of 
church representation r" Would he have the courage to look 
him in the face and say, "I am ?" Suppose the sage were 
to proceed, — and if thy heart be thus early inspired with 
ambition, to act the part of a sovereign legislator, over the 
church of God, which he hath purchased with his own 
blood, what bounds will be set to thy ambition, when thou 
art three score ? Our young preachers are, indeed, heirs to 
a lordly inheritance. And from this fact, the public mind 
will not be suffered hereafter to be diverted. Far be it 
from us to create a public prejudice against these blooming 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 367 

itinerants. No ! we warn them of the danger of creating 
this prejudice against themselves. Their feelings may not 
perhaps be quite so pleasant as they may wish, should they 
find themselves pointed at throughout this great republic, 
as the aspirants to church sovereignty. The old men may 
bear this. Past services may carry them onward to the end 
of their career. Not so with the youth. Their reliance 
must be upon the excitement of ambition, radicating in the 
heart the love of power. ! that these dear young men 
could, by a friendly warning, be diverted from the dominion 
which dazzles their imagination to the gulph beneath them ! 
Ah! friends, how delusive are your dreams of treading in 
the footsteps of the Wesleys and the Asburys. After many 
years of labor and care, they just touched the summit of the 
mount, and died. But you are to set out in your course 
from the point where theirs was concluded. You are in 
the beginning to drink a full draught from the cup, at which 
they slaked their thirst, when they were too old to be 
intoxicated with its contents. What to them was as a 
gentle stimulant, on your youthful blood and spirits will pro- 
duce wild delirium. The wise and good will pronounce 
you drunk with power, while you, and your misguided flat- 
terers, will fondly conceive that you are the very imps of 
the fathers and founders of Methodism. Why, O why is 
it, that you cannot be made to perceive how circumstances 
alter men, as well as cases? I am not anxious to prove, 
my dear young friends, that you are more ambitious than 
Wesley or Asbury, any more than I should be, that the 
young heir, who revels and wantons in the possession of the 
hard earned treasures, bequeathed to him at his father's 
death, has a more innate love of pleasure, than his father 
had before him. The means, and exertions necessary to 
the father, in his poverty, might have corrected this pro- 
pensity ; but the son has no such countervailing excite- 
ment. Wesley and Asbury began without power. You 
are to begin with it. They began without property. You 
are to begin with hundreds of thousands. They had to gain 
a name. You to inherit it. All the exciting causes of 
ambition, are to operate upon your excitability, from the 
very outset. Already the prospect of power has rendered you 
deaf to the call of glory, and stifled the incipient workings 
of a generous fellow feeling for those who are suruggling 
for mutual rights. 

An old man on the new side. 



368 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

TXo. 63, 

Christian Intelligencer, vol. i. October 2Sth, 1828, p. 20. 

Methodist Philosophy. 

There is very little philosophy among the common people, 
in any age or country. And as the great body of the mem- 
bers of our church are of that class of society, called the 
common people, not in derision, or in the same sense as 
plebeians, or peasants, we do not intend to disparage them, 
or the church, if we should say, that there is not much phi- 
losophy among them. But the fact is notorious, that the 
great body of our preachers, are not only taken from among 
the common people, but that no artificial means are employ- 
ed to elevate their minds to a higher grade. Philosophy as 
a science can hardly be said to exist in the ministry or the 
church. If the reputed author, and leader of the old side 
party, be a philosopher in other respects, we are not yet 
convinced that he is a political one. As it regards deep 
insight into human nature, and the structure of human so- 
ciety, we doubt if he be entitled to rank much above the 
rest of us. But if the claim should be set up for him, as a 
cunning politician, let it not be inferred, that we mean to 
contest it, or that we would deny that his ambition is quite 
equal to the high distinction he has obtained. Much as he 
was admired as an author, we thought that we could clearly 
foresee, that he would not be satisfied with this distinction, 
that the admiration of his talents as a writer, would not be 
palpable enough, and that the sword was more congenial to 
his feelings, than the pen. He could not but know, that 
no one could measure swords with him; that as the adviser 
and contriver of a system of expulsion, he was in no dan- 
ger of having the same measure meted back to him again. 
The impotence of the rival party was very evident, and it 
was equally so, that they could not by any adventitious aid 
gain the expelling power. 

The temptation to proceed to expulsion was too strong 
to be resisted, save by a sound philosophy, or insight into 
the laws of cause and effect, which bear upon the subject. 
The thing took on all sides ; the plan was just level with 
the feelings of the common people. No reason was re- 
quired to recommend it. It seemed plain at the first view, 
that the shortest way to get rid of a rival is to kill him at once. 
All the five bishops it seems swallowed the bait. Neither of 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 369 

them was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. From the 
least unto the greatest, all took counsel of their feelings. 
Thus the old adage "one fool makes many." He who first 
suggested the thought, which the common feelings inspire, 
has the honor of being the leader. 

We have often seen fire burn most actively against the 
wind. The reason is, the current of air furnishes the great- 
est quantity of oxygen to the flame. Our Solomons have 
done their most at the beginning. They must now kill re- 
form, or it will kill them sure enough. They have put re- 
formers upon the necessity of seeking the confidence of the 
public, personally, as well as casually. The public, already 
predisposed to favor their principles, need only to be assured, 
that reformers are honest men, and they will regard the great 
guns of the old side, only, as they would squibs. It is our 
deliberate opinion that in the whole connection, a more 
unlit counsellor could not have been found, than the one 
whose counsels are ostensibly followed. He is the "prophet 
of mischief." Independence, when such an adviser was 
listened to, took its flight from the annual conference, phi- 
losophy was confounded, and measures were carried as by 
acclamation. 

The work is now done, the measure of folly is now filled 
up. Necessity will become the mother of instruction to 
itinerant preachers. Painful experience will teach them, 
that they are not the men, and that wisdom will not die with 
them. But wherever Methodism is preached in the whole 
world, will this deed of folly be told to their shame. Pos- 
terity will wonder and stand astonished, that a wise man 
among a thousand could not have been found, to stand forth, 
to stop his brethren in this blind career of power. We long 
ago foresaw and foretold, that in our body, power would 
become beyond all proportion, greater than wisdom. The 
prerogatives are ever present, ever felt, but the wisdom that 
is profitable to direct, must be dug for, as for hidden trea- 
sure, it comes not unasked, unsought for, in the time it is 
most needed. It* must be collected and held in reserve, 
against the time to come. 

Opiner. 



This number contains an account of the Convention, and Articles of 
Association. 



370 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

No. 64. 

Christian Intelligencer, vol. i. Nov. 20, 182S, page 21. 

Critique on the word Despot. 

The General Conference take exception to the friends of 
representation, for calling itinerant preachers despots. The 
word is derived from the Greek. The owner of the ass, in 
iEsop, is called a despot. And in the New Testament the 
masters of servants are called despots. Servants be obedient 
unto your own masters, (despots.) The owner of the house, 
goods, &/C. is a despot. An absolute ruler in a state is also a 
despot. It is in this sense, itinerant preachers have been 
called despots. They have the power to rule as they please. 
Laws are not put into their hands to execute, according to 
laws made to limit their power, and for the abuse of which, 
the people may make them responsible. The President of 
the United States is not a despot. The governors of the 
several states are not despots. They neither own the peo- 
ple nor the property. They do not govern absolutely, — do 
not make the laws they execute, without being accountable 
to the people. The power of itinerant preachers, is be- 
yond all dispute, despotic. Can they hold and exercise that 
power, without being despots? When they make laws for 
us, they do not consult us. When they make laws for them- 
selves, they do not consult us. But we ought not to be tena- 
cious for a word, any more, than we ought to be made of- 
fenders for a word. If it gives offence, let us give it up. 
There are words enough in the English language to express 
our meaning, without going to the Greek for one. Let the 
Greeks then keep their theme Despozoo, (I rule,) to them- 
selves, we neither want it nor its derivations. But whether 
we use it, or not, the itinerant preachers will rule over us, 
without suffering us to set any bounds to their power. If we 
do not forever hereafter hold our peace, it seems we must call 
them 'benefactors.' These rude "would be Methodist refor- 
mers" must take lessons, and learn how to speak of majesty. 
They must give flattering titles to men, and say one thing and 
mean another. How fine words, like fine clothes, disguise 
the conditions of men! A body of men who with their wives 
and children are dependent on the will of another, for a 
plan of existence, are indignant when they hear the power 
they exercise over those below them, called by its right name. 
"We can no longer with Johnson, ridicule the maxim, "He 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 87 1 

that ruleth over free men, must be free." We begin now, 
very seriously to doubt, whether men, who are not tenacious 
of their own liberty, can feel much regard for the liberties 
of others. It requires some reflection, to discover the sla- 
very of the king's attendants through their soft raiment. 



No. 65. 

Christian Intelligencer, vol. i. December 20, 1828, p. 30. 

A short Sermon. 

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us 
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Gal. v. 1. 

If it should be made a question, how much liberty may a 
christian enjoy ? It may be safely answered, just so much as 
Christ has given him. Christ can give his disciples no lib- 
erty to neglect, or transgress his own laws. Now the 
Apostle says expressly, that we are under law to Christ. It 
is indeed, acknowledged on all sides, that he is a king ; as 
such, he must be supposed to have his laws. But a king 
in effect, is dethroned, when he ceases to enforce obedience 
to his laws. We may not then, for one moment indulge 
the thought, that Christ makes us free from his own laws. 
He is our king, our law-maker, and our judge. This being 
granted, it will still remain a question ; what are the laws of 
Christ ? We say that the moral laws of Moses, and the 
moral laws of Christ are identical. Moses taught his disci- 
ples to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, and 
souls, and minds, and strength ; and their neighbors as them- 
selves. Did the Lord Jesus Christ teach his disciples oth- 
erwise? Surely, no one, in so many words, will say so. 
But in every case, in which the moral precepts in the Old 
and New Testament are found to be identical, Christ hath 
not made us free from them. We may not suppose, that he 
repealed any law, or command, in order to re-enact it. Jesus 
Christ does not make us free from himself. Our religious 
dependance is all transfered to himself. When we receive 
him as our Saviour, he frees us from all other saviours. No 
one save the Messiah, could make the Jews free from the 
burdensome ritual of the law of ceremonies. He alone 
could make the bloody sacrifices to cease, by the sacrifice of 
himself. We are now at liberty to enter into the holiest, 
by a new and living way, which Christ hath consecrated by 



372 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

his own blood. Through Christ as our great high priest, we 
may "come boldly to the throne of grace." In the worship 
of the Gentiles, there were images, and altars, and sacrifi- 
ces ; and priests and utensils ; and the forms and the ceremo- 
nies were not wanting. In the Jewish worship there were 
no images, but no want of priests and altars, and sacrifices. 
We might say in some sense that Moses made the Jews 
free from image worship, or idolatry ; — not from the sacri- 
ficing of animals. But Christ hath made us free from both. 
Christian worship, where it was first introduced, must have 
been a strange sight. Nothing like it was to be seen among 
Jews or Gentiles. No images, no altars, no priests, no vic- 
tims, no sacrifices, no dresses, and no ceremonies. Men and 
women prophesying and praying together, without any au- 
thority or formal consecration from the sacred colleges, and 
no burning fat, or smoking incense to accompany their devo- 
tion. What reason could these people give for these strange 
innovations? this neglect of so many ancient usages ? They 
had one reason : Christ had made them free. He had 
brought them into the glorious liberty of the children of God, 
and they were free indeed. Christ unbound them, he took the 
yoke of bondage off their necks. The same striking con- 
trast was evident in the preaching, or teaching, among their 
several worshipers. In the christian assembly only, was the 
name of Jesus heard. In the old poets and orators, and in 
the writings of the ancient Jewish rabbies, which have come 
down to our times, we do not find any thing like the speci- 
mens of teaching which are in the New Testament. The 
christian's motto is Chirst and liberty. But great and glo- 
rious as is this external liberty, the liberty wherewith Christ 
makes the heart free, is still more glorious. He sets the 
soul at liberty, by his victorious love, from the yoke and bond- 
age of sin, and guilt, and fear. The pardon of sin, justifi- 
cation by faith, the spirit of adoption, bearing witness with 
our spirit, that we are the children of God, are parts of 
christian liberty. Christ makes us free to love, free to re- 
joice, free to believe, and free to hope. He sets our feet in a 
large place, to run in the way of his commandments. Where 
Christ is, there is the spirit of God, and where the spirit of 
God is, there is liberty. "He breaks the power of cancell'd 
sin, he sets the pris'ner free." 

Stand fast in this liberty ; do not relapse into Judaism, 
nor idolatry; do not relapse into sin ; do not cast away your 
confidence in the Messiah, which hath great recompense of 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 373 

reward ; hold fast the beginning of it steadfast unto the end. 
If we live not up to our privileges as believers, we shall be- 
come entangled in the yoke of bondage. We cannot re- 
main free, if we stand not fast in the liberty wherewith 
Christ hath made us so. 

"Stand then in his great might, 
With all his strength endu'd." 

c 'When brought into bondage again, what hope of a sec- 
ond release ?" Christ hath somewhat against all who fall 
from their first love. Backsliders suffer a fearful loss of lib- 
erty. Their confidence in God is shaken, and they suspect 
every body of a want of confidence in them. Hypocrisy, 
or presumption, follows quickly upon the heels of sins against 
Christ. The liberty into which Christ calls us, is not to be 
"used as an occasion to the flesh." The grace of God, is 
not to be turned into wantonness. It is to be lamented, 
that some, otherwise good teachers, prove themselves to be 
little mindful of consequences, in teaching christian liberty. 
In striving to exalt the gospel, they speak as though they 
thought they never could say enough against the law. But 
we say that Christ makes us free to obey his laws, by ma- 
king us free from the ceremonial law. The time, the labor, 
the expense of these burdensome sacrifices and rites, St. 
Peter complains of, as a "yoke which neither their fathers 
nor they were able to bear." We cannot do two things at 
a time. All this time, therefore, all this labor and expense, 
Christ enables us to devote to moral purposes, by freeing us 
from the obligations of the legal sacrifices and rites, and 
making our devotions wholly spiritual. Prayer under the 
law, was expensive, or rather, the accompanying incense 
was so. All the legal services required money and price, 
without them, neither wine nor milk could be bought. Un- 
der the gospel, pardon and salvation are free. This is the 
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Gospel faith, 
and not legal works, brings the blessing. The gospel does 
every thing for us, but make us free from Christ. This it 
could not do, without making us independent beings. It 
makes us as free as dependant creatures can be. Without 
Christ, we can do nothing ; but we can do all things through 
Christ, who strengtheneth us. The wavering faith in Christ, 
which is daily manifest among professors of religion, is 
greatly to be deplored. Unstable as water, they cannot 
excel. Like waves of the sea, driven with the wind and 
32 



374 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

tossed, they look in vain for blessings from the gospel. Their 
souls remain not long enough in one condition, to prove the 
benefits of religion. To the inconstant, fickle tribe of con- 
verts, now become so numerous, do we not well to cry out, 
stand fast, be not again entangled. But to those who are 
entangled with the grievous yoke of bondage, the guilty and 
tormenting fear of the wrath to come, who grieve and 
mourn over the plague of their own hearts, who labor and 
are heavy laden with sin, we cry, "behold the Lamb!" — 
"Come to the living waters, come." Take the yoke of 
Christ upon you, and learn of him. Is it for liberty you 
pant ? — Christ will open the prison doors, and set at liberty 
those who are bound. He will preach unto you the accepta- 
ble year of the Lord, the year of jubilee of our God. 

Philo Pisticus. 



No. 66. 

Christian Intelligencer, vol. i. January, 1829, page 33. 

Methodist Episcopal Church. 

A Methodist Episcopal Church may mean a Methodist 
Bishops' Church. And in opposition to this, there may be 
Methodist people's churches. The travelling preachers nev- 
er ask any power of the people. When they give any pow- 
er to the people, they give them no title to it. It is only a 
gift at the pleasure of the giver. All the power of the trav- 
elling preachers is assumed, or taken by themselves. It 
certainly was not at first claimed by succession, or in the 
usual sense of the term, by divine right. The weight which 
now is said to rest upon the General Conference "with the 
force of a moral obligation," seems to be but a late discove- 
ry. We cannot think that it was felt exactly so, in 1784-' 5 : 
for, if we understand terms, more was then said about obli- 
gations to Mr. Wesley, than of moral obligation. 

The power of the travelling preachers, might, we have no 
doubt, if like dutiful children, they had waited for it, have 
been derived from the last will and testament of Mr. Wesley : 
but they did not see cause to serve him like sons in the gos- 
pel, until he was gathered to his fathers. Power they took, 
and power they keep; their right to take, or to keep, it 
might have been easily forseen, would at no distant day be 
made a question. In a crisis, even an Indian title to land 
is thought to be desirable. Is not a title to power also de- 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 375 

sirable ? What right can we have to power, without a title? 
In those governments, the origin of which is lost in tradi- 
tion, it is usual to presume that the title did exist; but we 
know that it never did exist in the case of travelling preach- 
ers. The continuance of the power proves nothing, unless 
it proves that it was assumed: the right, it certainly cannot 
prove. There is a common sense among mankind upon 
these matters. Where power is not made to descend by 
heirship, or succession, it has almost uniformly been refer- 
red to the people ; and their right to originate it for their 
common benefit, has been avowed. This is the origin of all 
republicanism, in church and state. The people are the 
source and centre of power, and all grants and titles run in 
the njame of the people. The travelling preachers were not 
the heirs, nor the successors of any ministerial body of men. 
By taking no title from the people, they could obtain none ; 
for nobody else would give it. Even now, if the Methodist 
people were to meet by their representatives, and confirm 
and ratify to them, all their present power, such an act could 
have no retrospective view. The powers heretofore exer- 
cised, would remain as assumed powers ; that is, without 
title or right. For the distinction here between right and 
title, cannot obtain. The latter cannot be obtained as an 
act of equity. It has not been lost, or forcibly, or fraudu- 
lently taken away : it never existed. 

The General Conference have set the will of the people 
at defiance ; they will not acknowledge that they have any 
rights, and, of course, that they have any to grant to trav- 
elling preachers. But the Methodist people have protested 
against their right to assume certain powers. And in this 
they will be borne out by the great body of their country- 
men, who do not believe in itinerant infallibility. And we 
feel confident, that those who investigate the case, will be 
of the opinion, that we have not erred in regard to time, — 
that we have not been too hasty. The power exercised by 
the travelling preachers, they must see, is unlimited in 
its nature, and can receive no check, but from without. 
While there were men remaining, able and willing to bear 
their testimony, the crisis ought to have been improved. 
The act is done ; it is done in self-defence. The General 
Conference made it necessary, as an act of self-preservation 
to the lovers of religious liberty, and the lovers of Metho- 
dist doctrine. We, the members of the church, have spo- 
ken. It js the first time such a voice has been heard from 



376 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

its members ; it is not the voice of anger, nor of retaliation. 
It is a calm, dispassionate voice, which, although travelling 
preachers never expected to hear, they may greatly profit by. 
Our advice we know has been long lost upon them. But 
we ask the public to give us credit when we say, that we 
have been actuated according to the maxim, "Aristotle loves 
Plato ; but he loves truth better than Plato." O. 



No. 67. 
Christian Intelligencer, vol. i. January 5, 1829, page 34. 

An Address to the Friends of the Principles of Representa- 
tion in Church Government. 

Respected fellow-laborers, and well-wishers to the cause 
of representation, — You will doubtless hear of my having 
accepted of the ministerial charge of the Associated church 
in Baltimore, until the meeting of our contemplated con- 
ference. It is known to those best acquainted with me, 
that I have been swift to write, and slow to act in behalf of 
the cause of representation. To write I have never needed 
a prompter; to act, I have required almost imperious cir- 
cumstances to urge me on. As a leading writer, in the 
order of time, could I have also gone before in action, 
without waking up suspicion that I was "taking too much 
upon me ? As a writer, I could address myself to the un- 
derstandings of my readers, and to posterity. For seven 
years I have employed my pen upon this great and inter- 
esting subject, as a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Twice, in that space of time, have the General 
Conference met ; twice have I been its humble petitioner, 
asking, as an elder in the church, some part, by my repre- 
sentative, of the authoritative control of the General Con- 
ference, and twice has my right to the thing asked for, been 
in effect denied and rejected. But, in the last instance, 
the General Conference have spoken a language I never re- 
member to have heard from that body before. "Divinely 
instituted ministry — divinely authorised expounders — does 
rest upon us with the force of a moral obligation — not to 
permit our ministration — to be authoritatively controlled by 
others ;" and, of course, by me, as I am one of the others, in 
the address of the General Conference of 18*28. This was 
new to me, as the official language of the exclusive body of 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 377 

men who have "full powers to make rules and regulations 
for our church." "Others, that is the local preachers and 
the laity, can have no authority to control the "ministra- 
tions" of travelling preachers in these respects," nor any 
respect, out of the General Conference. All the authority 
to control is in the "full powers." 

But what are we to understand by, "the force of a moral 
obligation ?" Can the phrase be used without any reference 
to conscience? Would the meaning have been different, if 
the General Conference had said in so many words to the 
petitioners : We cannot in conscience permit you, by your 
representatives, to have seats in the General Conference. 
So I understood it before I left Pittsburg; so I understand 
it still. But [ neither wrote nor acted accordingly, I merely 
told my friends on the banks of the Ohio, that this address 
would prevent me from ever putting my hand to another 
petition. The task of answering the address would have 
been undertaken by a more able hand than mine, had not 
affliction prevented. But so vastly important was the con- 
struction which I put upon the address, I thought it best 
to wait to hear what would be the impression upon the 
minds of our friends in general. To me the address meant 
in effect (I could put no other construction upon it) the 
General Conference is under moral obligation, that is, con- 
science-bound, to do what is plainly implied in the well 
known words, "Being lords over God's heritage.^ 

They are bound in conscience to govern local preachers 
and the laity, without permitting themselves to be authori- 
tatively controlled by them. JS T ow, that the opinion of the 
friends of representation, in different parts of the continent 
is known, I find it is, in substance, in accordance with my 
first impressions, and serves to confirm them. But in thus 
avowing, according to my understanding of the address of 
the General Conference, the consciences of its members 
are enlisted on the side of an absolute, uncontrollable go- 
vernment in their own hands. Do I not slander ? Do I 
not speak evil of these ministers ? Not intentionally. But 
I am determined to act now by this avowal of "a moral 
obligation" on the part of the General Conference, for they 
do not make it individually, nor is its effects to die with 
them. The minds and consciences of all over whom the 
itinerant preachers can have any forming control, will be 
formed upon the principles avowed in the address, The 
men who feel the force of a moral obligation, not to permit 
32* 



378 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

their ministrations to be authoritatively controlled by others 
will use all the means in their power to transfuse this force 
of a moral obligation into the breasts of others. And when 
others are thus conscience bound not to be represented, 
and so gain authority to control, the system of uncontrolla- 
ble power, and of non-resistance and passive obedience, 
will be consummated. And is this "a consummation de- 
voutly to be wished ?" Not by me ; but devoutly to be de- 
precated. But it cannot be opposed, it cannot be resisted, 
it cannot be delayed by argument, by petition, or by any 
means short of an independent Methodist church organiza- 
tion. The time is now come for me to act, I don't mean 
to say, for 1 don't know, that it is so come to others. 

I may say that I have paused, that I have delayed for six 
months, and have not written or acted in reference to the 
address of the General Conference, to see the more clearly 
how circumstances would direct me, for as one of the first 
writers in this controversy, and feeling the consequent re- 
sponsibility, I thought I had a right to consult circumstances 
more particularly than some others. And in deep humility, 
I do take leave to think, that I have been providentially 
protected and guided, and that I am now providentially di- 
rected to become a member and minister of the associated 
churches. If I should die to-morrow, it would not alter 
this persuasion of my mind, if these churches remain while 
I live, few and feeble, or if I live to see them come to noth- 
ing, it will not alter this persuasion. As an individual, I 
must act now, or unsay, in effect, all I have said. The 
General Conference, in my judgment, have taken new 
ground, and higher ground than ever. The day of eternity 
will shew that I have labored intentionally, and used all the 
means in my power to prevent them from taking this 
ground ; but they have entered upon it with a firm and 
fearless step. My moral obligation, my conscience must 
now be put in requisition. Moral obligation has been put 
in the foreground, it must be met there, if met at all, by its 
like. Conscience must be opposed to conscience. It now 
rests upon me with the force of a moral obligation, not to 
permit myself to be authoritatively controlled by any man, 
or set of men, "in these respects" or in any religious re- 
spect, who tell me to my face, that they will not, cannot in 
conscience, permit their ministrations to be authoritatively 
controlled by others (other christians, and christian minis- 
ters in their fellowship.) 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 379 

I set out in this new fellowship, under the force of a 
moral obligation, never to take, nor to hold, nor to exercise 
any power without being subject to have my ministrations 
authoritatively controlled by my brother christians, and bro- 
ther ministers. As they have the authority, I hope they will 
not attempt to use force or violence. No, I trust, that in a 
church, where all will be as the Lord's freemen, I shall not 
be compelled in my ministrations to act against authority ; 
that my conscience will not be put to this test. And I am 
sure there was nothing in our petition, like force or vio- 
lence, or any indication of it, sufficient to call forth the con- 
sciences of the members of the General Conference in array 
against it. I cannot induce my mind to think, that authori- 
tative control was used as synonymous with forcible or vio- 
lent control. 

]<t must be well known, that I have taken no counsel of 
my fears, that I have deserted no brother in the day of trou- 
ble. And to hasten the present crisis, I had no wish, no 
ambition. I have never even been in a straight betwixt the 
two. But the crisis I always forsaw must come, if the prin- 
ciple of representation continued to be resisted. There 
will, I have no doubt, be other and greater secessions; for, 
notwithstanding all the church censures and punishments 
that have been brought to bear upon us, for the violence 
that was charged upon us, we have been too tame to engage 
popular feeling. I have studied carefully the successful ex- 
amples by which men draw away disciples after them, on 
purpose to know how to avoid them. I knew the materials 
I had to do with, and I wrote to enlighten them, certainly 
the slowest of all modes of increasing the number of prose- 
lytes to a popular cause. 

Your object, you have avowed it a thousand times, is prin- 
ciples, not men. And yet how easy will it be for you to 
forget to caution yourselves to beware of the counsels of 
men whose principles differ from yours. The "moral obli- 
gation" of the General Conference, is the great point which 
must hereafter guide itinerant preachers; and it ought to 
guide us also. Authoritative, that is, legal control, you can- 
not have unless you have it in General Conference by your 
representatives. And you now know, those who occupy 
the seats in that body, are under a moral obligation never 
to let you set with them. Knowing this, of what account 
are soft words or hard words, the promises or threatenings, 
the smiles or the frowns of one, or of one hundred itinerant 



880 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION 

preachers, as it regards our high claim to representation. I 
tell you brethren, if you mean to support the principles of 
representation, you must have a conscience of your own, 
and act up to it. Nicholas Snethen. 



No. 6§. 

Christian Intelligencer, vol. ii. December 5, 1829, p. 121. 

Motives. 

A writer in opposition to representation, it seems has im- 
plicated our motives. But why should we have any other 
motives than those which we profess ? We have always 
declared, as we still declare, that our object is representa- 
tion, and we do not conceal the consequences, viz : that we 
wish others to have it as well as ourselves. Certainly if it 
were in our power, we would convince and persuade every 
member and minister of the old side to adopt our theory, 
and reduce it to practice. Our motives cannot be question- 
ed, unless our professions of regard for representation are 
supposed to be hypocritical. And surely those who have 
suffered themselves to be excluded, and those who have vol- 
untarily withdrawn, have given no proofs of insincerity. We 
believe that those who are leaving no means unessayed to 
destroy representation, by destroying us, are very sincere. 
They would divide us in Jacob, and scatter us in Israel, and 
leave no two of us together. We therefore oppose motive 
to motive, and intention to intention. They hate represen- 
tation, we love it. They oppose it, and we support it. 
They are sincere ; so are we. Our saying and doing are as 
consistent as theirs ; why then question our motives? 

But although our motives may be impeached, motives or 
intentions alone will not ensure our success ; nor can we 
succeed by adopting the means of our opponents. As the 
friends of representation, we must act so as to gain and se- 
cure the confidence of all. Let the question be asked me 
upon an individual case, what was your motive for acting so 
or so ? My answer would be, to get or keep the confidence 
of the friends of liberty. As, for instance, when your friends 
were turned out of the church, why did you withdraw ? Be- 
cause, if I had not, I must have lost the confidence of all 
parties. Now what was the motive of those who turned my 
friends out of the church ? I believe it was in part, at least, 
to bring about a loss of confidence, which would certainly 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 881 

have been effected if none of the friends of representation 
had withdrawn and associated with them. The result would 
have been inevitable ; and this loss of confidence would 
have led to universal despair of the cause. Who would 
ever have dared again to brave itinerant power, in the cause 
of representation, after being thus taught by example, that 
they might be suffered to fall alone ? We are told that 
many friends of representation still remain in the church, 
who think that they can render the cause more service in 
the church than out of it. I question not their sincerity ; 
but who has confidence in them ? It is matter of much sur- 
prise to me, to find how little account is made of confidence. 
A friend of Mr. O'Kelly has, it seems, told the secret, that 
a breach of confidence among the party, led to all their ca- 
lamities. It matters not by what process confidence among 
a new party is made to fail, the consequences will be ruin- 
ous to it ; for confidence is their only bond ; if this fails all 
fails. When my friends were expelled, the crisis had come, 
— I must either go with them, or undo all that I ever had 
done in the cause of representation, and disqualify myself 
forever to render it any service. Necessity was laid upon 
me, and I consulted not with flesh and blood. The dilem- 
ma was not to be avoided. The question must have been 
asked, why did you not go with the men who were excluded 
for publishing yourwritings ? How could I answer? Would 
it have sufficed to say, I can do more good to the cause by 
staying where I am ! Why, I knew and always did know, 
that a man can do no good to any cause, when he has lost 
the confidence of its friends. 

Let the opponents of representation question our motives 
as much as they please ; but an impartial and candid pub- 
lic will judge us by our works : they will look for the evi- 
dence of our sincerity in our consistency, in our courage, 
and in our constancy. Behold the rock on which many of 
the travelling preachers have been wrecked ! Behold how 
they misled others ! They are still the friends of liberal 
principles, and yet they are destined almost daily to shock 
the public confidence in their own professions. The de- 
cree of the power under which they act, is, that the excom- 
municants and their friends must be put down, in order to 
put down representation; and they lend the hand. Alas! 
for these men ! can they find what they seek, — consolation 
in the belief that they are thus rendering a more essential 
service to the cause ? I can only say that I could not. He 



382 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

who has the confidence of two adverse parties to secure, 
has a most difficult part to act. It will be well if he do not 
realize the maxim of ''between two stools.' 5 I say then to 
those motive questioners, my motive is to seek and find the 
confidence of all the true friends of representation. If oth- 
ers shall be successful in an opposite course, it will be well 
for them. I am fully persuaded I cannot. I have no secret 
motives, but speak and spare not, whether men will hear or 
forbear; and wish with all my heart, that a doctrine which 
I do all I can to make universal, may become so among 
preachers and people. 

The part which some preachers have acted, who were 
once volunteers in the cause of representation, has stagger- 
ed many minds exceedingly. 1 plead the apology of these 
old friends thus : They did not foresee ; they have been led 
on by degrees, until it has come to this point, that they 
must go forward, or retrace their steps ; and even now they 
do not feel, what a shock they are giving to public feeling. 
The power under which they act is as unrelenting as death. 
Woe to the man who goes not to all its lengths ! Many are 
the painful struggles which those have escaped, who, when 
the circumstances made the call, ventured all for represen- 
tation. Truly I envy not my dear old friends, when they 
turn their backs upon me, and shut their pulpits against me. 
I should deem it the greatest calamity of my life, if, under the 
impulse of any party feeling, I should be obliged to do the 
like to any of them. 

O, ye friends of representation, fear not to risk your all 
for the cause ! We rejoice that it fell not to our lot to be 
expelled, that we might prove to you and to the world, that 
no shame nor fear could prevent us from stepping forth vol- 
untarily, to bear a part of that immense weight of church 
reproach which was to devolve upon our expelled friends. 
We have thus at once challenged confidence, and given an 
example of it. Our greatest fear now is, that those who re- 
main behind are destined to lose confidence in themselves: 
their prudence will be so often put to the test, and dictate 
to them not to speak and to act, that it will be very apt to 
take on the habit of timidity, and of fear itself. When the 
fear to act becomes habitual, the power to act is gone, and 
with it all self-confidence. It is a distressing anticipation, 
that any of our old co-workers in the cause of liberty, should 
become the subjects of the fear of man, which bringeth a 
snare. P. P, 



SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 383 

No. 69. 

Christian Intelligencer, vol. ii. January 5, 1830, page 129. 

Thoughts on the Moral and Intellectual states of the Sup- 
porters of the Principle of Representution. 

"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" 

The opposers of representation fail not to include ambi- 
tion among the bad qualities of its supporters ; but they 
cannot conceive of their ambition as having any thing great 
or good in its nature, or its tendency. It is ambition of the 
worst kind, and of the worst consequences. No pictures 
of depravity can well be drawn in baser colors, than those 
in which some of our former friends have painted us, and 
that in letters written to ourselves alone. The vilest and 
most ignoble ambition must indeed degrade any heart and 
mind, by habitual contact. For ambition, under any modi- 
fication, we aim not to be the advocates. But it is custo- 
mary with writers to use this word, for the want of a better, 
perhaps, in reference to lawful or laudable purposes. So a 
man is considered as ambitious of success, in a good enter- 
prise. The opposers of representation attempt to defeat 
its friends, and they are ambitious of success. 

They feel that they will be ashamed, if they do not suc- 
ceed. If they do succeed, they must of course presume 
that the shame will be the lot of their opponents. How 
then can the friends of representation repress a similar 
feeling, or kind of ambition. The opposers of representa- 
tion wage a war of extermination. They hold up the 
friends of the principle as too bad to live, and as obnoxious 
to final perdition. Death and destruction are the burden of 
their daily predictions. They have turned the eyes of the 
whole world upon us. We have to become a by-word, and 
a reproach, and an object of hissing. Can we know all 
this, and feel no ambition ? And if ambitious of success 
under such circumstances, must our ambition be wholly 
ignoble and debasing ? Look you, great and good sirs ! 
what if these ambitious men aspire to conquer you ? If 
they can conceive such an idea, must they not be greater 
than kings among beggars ? Our patriots began by claim- 
ing their rights as free men ; but they soon found a reward 
set upon their heads. Did the nations look upon them as 
scape-gallows ? Not so, they became spectators of the 



884 SNETHEN ON LAY REPRESENTATION. 

conflict. See how the circumstances combined. Ameri- 
cans contending for their rights, and for their lives, con- 
tended as in the presence of all Europe, whose good will 
was to be secured by their courage. If they were ambi- 
tious, could they well avoid becoming so ? And would 
they have found allies if they had been less so? We deny 
not the charge of ambition now. We know not, it may 
be, how ambitious we are. Our opponents have compelled 
us to contend for fame ; they have made success essential, 
not only to our liberty, but to our being ; and coupled their 
defeat to our success. Great is the prize they have set be- 
fore us. Can we win it and not be great ? The little and 
the paltry objects they accused us of being influenced by 
in the beginning, if they had any existence, must have 
given place to considerations of the greatest magnitude. 
We are preached against. Are we thus beaten ? Who is 
to judge ? Those who hear both sides. If they judge that 
we out-preach our opponents, the victory is ours. How 
can we hope to out-preach them, if we cultivate nothing 
great in our hearts or our minds? The true state of the 
case is this : To say nothing upon the subject of represen- 
tation, in the abstract, we shall not insult the feelings of 
any American by attempting to prove to him that an at- 
tachment to it is consistent with the greatest attainments in 
goodness. To say nothing in praise of our own virtue, 
every true and sincere friend and supporter of the cause of 
representation, who has been a Methodist, if he has genius, 
if he has generous qualities of heart, must have them called 
forth in the present crisis. If there be traitors to the cause 
among us, if men who do not understand or value their 
rights, or those who are indeed altogether selfish, and can 
see nothing beyond their poor, little selves, they must dis- 
appear ; but all that is excitable by greatness, whether in 
the heart or mind, may be expected to display itself. We 
can have no motive to undervalue our opponents, on the 
supposition that we are ambitious ; for the greater they are, 
the greater will be the glory of our success. 

Philo Pistictjs. 



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